


Defiance

by Laverne



Series: Chronicles of Zootopia [3]
Category: Zootopia (2016)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Crime Fighting, F/M, Family, Post-Canon, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-12
Updated: 2017-08-28
Packaged: 2018-09-06 18:53:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 109,770
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8764945
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Laverne/pseuds/Laverne
Summary: Back from Bunnyburrow, Judy and Nick are finally in Zootopia again. But there are already old and new antagonists waiting for them, making things difficult. But even during their first case something unforeseen happen and changes everything...





	1. Things will never be the same again

**Author's Note:**

> The whole series is also made available as an [audio drama on YouTube](http://bit.ly/ChroniclesOfZootopiaAudio), releasing a new chapter each week!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Officer down in the car park of Precinct One, immediate ambulance needed!” – Bogo snapped at his radio, then turned around to Delgato and McHorn, who were keeping the still laughing hyena under control. “And get this psychopathic piece of dung out of my sight!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _“Vengeance is a monster of appetite, forever bloodthirsty and never filled.” – Richelle E. Goodrich_

* * *

 

####  _(YouTube: “llyADThAg5o”)_

####  _Wednesday, 12:37 o’clock – Incoming video message to Bonnie Hopps phone_

_“Hey Mom… Dad… sorry for not calling you directly. I have… (closing her eyes shortly) … I am a bit in a hurry right now and just wanted to … (looking away from the camera and breathing deeply, eventually being on the verge of sobbing) … I want … (returning her look to the camera and smiling a bit sad) … I just want to let you both know how much I love you. All the love and support you gave me … (sobbing and looking to the side) … despite all decisions I made that you … (sighing, looking to the camera) … whatever. Thank you for everything. (smiling and giving a kiss on the camera)”_

“Moooom” Annie called out of the window – “Your phone rang!”

Her mother was collecting some herbs from the garden outside the kitchen and smiled. “Just put it on the kitchen table, I will have a look later my dear.”

* * *

####  _Wednesday, 12:44 o’clock – Incoming video message to Evelin Hopps-Brooks phone_

_“(Judy’s face looked as if she had cried, trying to smile now) Hey, sis! I tried to call you, but … (sobbing) … but cannot … (with another sob she nearly starts crying) … I … I am in some trouble and… (looking away, wiping a tear with her paw) not sure … shuffle out of it this time … (looking again to the camera) I sent already Mom and Dad a short m-message … you will have to … look after them and our siblings, okay? (wiping another tear away) You know that I love you, Eve… you … you always were my best friend. We had … (sobbing) … had so much fun together (smiling and shortly laughing with the memory of it) … always think of me this way, do you promise? (sniffling with a sad smile) I would have loved to see your first litter at least … they will be … (looking away sighing and breathing deeply, then looking back into the camera with tears in her eyes) … tell them how much their aunt Judy loved them! (starting to cry quietly) … I wished that Nick and I had kits, so they could play and grow up together with yours! (sobbing) You were right, we … I shouldn’t have postponed it again and again … (wiping away her tears and trying to breath slowly) … Have a look after Nick occasionally, will you? (looking to the side) He will kick himself but … (sniffling) it is not his fault. (looking back to the camera, sobbing with a light smile) … I’m a dumb bunny, too emotional. (starting to cry again for a few seconds, then she pulled herself together with a last, wide smile) Love you all so much, Eve! Good bye … (giving a kiss on the camera with a smile)”_

Evelin was talking on the phone with her mother-in-law when her phone notified with a single beep an incoming message. She took a quick look and smiled. “What? No, nothing, just a message from Judy. I will call her later. You were talking about Troi’s newborns, congratulations!”

* * *

####  _Wednesday, 13:04 o’clock – Car park of the ZPD_

The wind was blowing coldly in Nick’s face, but he couldn’t care less. The colleagues from the bomb squad were standing near him, Fangmeyer had put his paw onto Nick’s shoulder. Chief Bogo was snapping orders to everyone and a hyena was gleefully laughing. But Nick’s only attention was on the blood and the body just a few meters in front of him, unable to speak or move.

“Code 10-108, 10-52 at Precinct One for 10-45c! I repeat, Officer down in the car park of Precinct One, immediate ambulance needed!” – Bogo snapped at his radio, then turned around to Delgato and McHorn, who were keeping the still laughing hyena under control. “And get this psychopathic piece of dung out of my sight!”

* * *

####  _Monday (2 days before), 6:28 o’clock – Nick and Judy’s apartment in Zootopia_

Judy was polishing her badge, eyeing herself in the mirror with a satisfied smile. Nick was standing beside her, tying his black tie.

“Hurry up, foxtrot! If we want to get some breakfast from pawbucks before work, we have to go now!” Judy sounded as eager as always and was already standing at the door with one paw on the latch.

“How can anybody be such a ball of energy in the early morning.” Nick yawned and smoothed down his jacket. “Okay, let’s go, ca…” – he didn’t even finish the last word when Judy already opened the door and stormed outside. “…rrots.”

When he finally arrived downstairs with the elevator, Judy was holding the front door open, pounding impatiently with her foot. “If you would take the stairs, too, your cycle would come to live more easily!”

“You are really in a hurry to get back to work, aren’t you?” Nick snickered and tried to keep step with her on their way to the tram.

“We were chilling out a whole week, it’s about time to get working again!” she smiled brightly, walking backwards a few meters to face Nick, then turning around and leaping up the three stairs of the platform. They still had a few minutes until the tram was arriving, and Nick leant again a lamp post, watching how the city was slowly waking up and coming alive. When his gaze went down to a newspaper on the floor, a headline leaped into his eyes: ‘Accident or assault? Hundreds of mammals without electricity!’

“Carrots?” Nick said thoughtfully; it was the rabbit who normally was reading the Zootopia Post online each morning while he was still showering. “Did you hear something about a blackout?”

“Mh? No, I didn’t get around to read the Post today. What blackout?” Judy turned her head, following his looks to the scrapped newspaper. “Oh…!” – she grabbed into her pockets, searching for her smartphone.

“You are getting sloppy, fluffy.” Nick snickered.

“I was looking through the mail we got during our little vacation. Some fox was too tired to do it yesterday after we arrived at home.” Judy smiled to herself, already swiping through the daily news on a website. “Here it is…” she moved beside Nick and tilted the phone display so he could read it, too. “Several hundreds of mammals had no electricity on Sunday evening when an incident happened at a transformer station in downtown. When a large pickup broke through a fence and ran into one of the transformers and exploded, a blackout happened in a small area near the center of Zootopia. A few hundred residents, including a third of Little Rodentia, had no electricity until the electric company ‘Zoolectric’ could finally bypass the demolished transformer station in the early hours on Monday. No animal got hurt by the incident, the driver of the car could escape before the police arrived at the scene.”

“We are barely back in Zootopia and there are exploding transformer stations … you are really attracting all kind of troubles, carrots!” Nick chuckled while his bunny rolled her eyes, getting in the just arriving tram, looking for a seat.

“If anything, we are attracting them both, foxtrot! But I would call that just an unhappy coincidence. It’s not the first hit and run crash, maybe the driver was drunk. There should be quite some video footage.”

* * *

####  _Monday, 7:21 o’clock – Foyer of Precinct One_

When Nick and Judy entered the precinct, they stumbled for a moment. There were quite a lot of people in the foyer; most of them colleagues but much more than usual at this early hour. They walked up to the front-desk where Clawhauser was on the radio. But instead of having some small talk with them as usual, the cheetah pointed to the bullpen with a sober look.

“It seems, as if you would get your busy first day of work, carrots.” Nick said with a soft smile while they were walking to their mutual seat. They still had a few minutes until their shift would official begin, but had no time to talk with their colleagues what had happened because Chief Bogo was also entering the bullpen in that very moment. The room quieted immediately.

“Morning. Most of you already heard about the nightly events, but I will summarize them for all others. Yesterday at half past eleven in the evening, an unknown culprit drove with a stolen car onto the area of the transformer station 37-B by ‘Zoolectric’. The car was packed with plastic explosive and parked directly beside the main transformer. Moments later the bomb was fired with a remote control and destroyed the whole transformer unit, which lead to a power failure in this area…” – Bogo pointed to a circle on the wall map. “For reasons of security we told the press that it was a car accident, no need to create a panic currently. Investigations regarding the bomb are made by the bomb squad, under the supervision of Fangmeyer. Forensics is on-site since yesterday. Officers Delgato and Wolford will be in control for the analysis. You will assist them as necessary. All others not directly involved with the investigation will make intensified patrols on their default routes today. Maybe this was an isolated incident, but until we can be sure I want you to be watchful.”

It was rather quite in the room; everybody was thinking about what Bogo just said.  “On a positive side-note…”, Bogo finally said: “Officers Hopps and Wilde are back from their short honeymoon trip; welcome back.” – a few were hooting with laughter while others were wolf whistling or applauding; Nick and Judy smiled, feeling awkward, when Bogo finally yelled: “Dismissed!”

The newlywed had to shake paws and hug nearly everyone, not without some naughty comments from their colleagues. When they were sitting in their police rover fifteen minutes later, Judy navigating through the early traffic, Nick was oddly shushed.

“A penny for your thoughts.” Judy said with a short side glance.

“I sometimes forget, that this job not only is driving around, issuing tickets or arresting drunken mammals. But someone blasting a whole transformer station?”, Nick sighed. “Those things are dangerous!”

“You are right, Nick. Sometimes our job is dangerous.” She nudged him with her elbow, winking: “But I promise I will watch you.”

“Oh dear…” Nick sighed with contrived despair.

* * *

####  _Monday, 17:39 o’clock – Nick and Judy’s cubicle at Precinct One_

Nick printed out the last of his reports for the day, an attempted theft, and signed it. They were sitting opposite each other and he observed his partner smiling.

“What do you think, carrots: Are we going to call it a day?” Nick asked while putting the case file in his out-box.

“I’m reading the preliminary report of the forensics, regarding the incident at the transformer station.”

“Well, something new?” The fox slowly walked around their desk, looking over her shoulder.

“Not too much. They found some footprints of probably a ram, but they are not precise. As it seems the culprit knows where all cameras are place, because he managed to avoid them; no clear picture is available.” Judy turned a few pages of the report until some schematics were visible. “And this is a reconstruction of the charge. They didn’t identify all components of it yet, but it’s rather complex. The chemical analysis identified a self-made…”

“…binary explosive?” Nick asked wondering. Judy raised her eyebrows and turned her back to him.

“Exactly, how did you know?”

Her fox just shrugged his shoulders. “No idea, the moment I saw those schematics I somehow knew that there was a self-made binary explosive used.”

“You recognized those?”

“Apparently, yes…” he looked thoughtful, but finally shook his head. “No idea, carrots.”

“Well…” Judy turned back to the forensics report. “That’s it already with the new information. There is another report by the electric company about the caused damage and what households were affected.” She closed the report and put it into her drawer. “What time is it?”

Nick smiled and massaged her shoulders. “We are already making extra hours.”

Judy sighed quietly with pleasure. “Let’s change into something more comfortable and have some dinner at Giovanny’s pizzeria.” She smiled, putting her head into the neck and looking upwards to Nick.

“Sounds good. Oh, and Benjamin asked if we want to join him and a few colleagues on a new games night on Friday.”

“A great occasion to ask him about his little adventure during our wedding party!” Judy giggled.

“I don’t think that he wants to discuss this topic with so many colleagues attending.” Nick winked.

“We will see. Are we going to meet downstairs in … let’s say fifteen minutes?”

Nick gave her a quick kiss between the ears. “O.K. – see you in fifteen.”

When Judy came to the foyer she wore a blue jeans and a dark red pullover, on her shoulder a small bag with dirty clothes. Nick was already waiting, standing together with Fangmeyer at the counter and talking about a file in their hands. When she approached them, she overheard the last part of the conversation:

“…just as an idea.” Nick said and Fangmeyer nodded slowly.

“Thanks Nick, I will let this check even today. If you are right, we have a good trace!”

“Hey, Larry!” Judy greeted Fangmeyer with a smile. “Anything new?”

“Nick had an idea regarding the bomb schematics, but we are still tapping in the dark. You two are going to clock off?”

“Yepp, we want to go to Giovanny’s. Do you want to accompany us?”

“Nah, I don’t want to bother Zootopia’s sweethearts.” Fangmeyer chuckled with a wink. “Also I have a briefing in half an hour. See you two tomorrow!” he raised his paw to bid farewell and left.

“Well, are you ready?” Judy smiled to Nick, who put his own bag with clothes over his shoulder and nodded.

“Ready and hungry, let’s go.” He walked over to the entrance door and hold it open for Judy. The rabbit still stood there, her paw on her stomach and her ears wincing a bit. “Carrots?” Nick looked a bit worried.

“Everything alright, just some stomach rumbling.” Judy smiled and walked over to him, linking her arm with his’. “What were you two discussing?” she asked him while waiting for the tram.

“Oh… I remembered why those schematics looked so familiar while I was changing clothes. They are nearly identical to some blueprints a bomber used about 10 years ago. I read about it while studying a few old case files a few weeks ago. Larry will check this possibility.”

“I have no idea how you can memorize so many details about some schematics from a ten-year-old case, but it’s amazing!” Judy gave him a kiss on his cheek and snickered.

* * *

####  _Tuesday, 7:14 o’clock – Pawbucks store near Precinct One_

“Hopps-Wilde!” the barista, a grey cat, shouted behind the counter and Nick took the delivery of two large latte macchiato and a blueberry muffin, handing one of the cups to Judy.

“And you don’t want anything for breakfast for sure, carrots?” Nick asked while biting in his own muffin.

“No, thank you. I’m really not hungry.”

“You didn’t eat a lot for dinner yesterday, too. Is everything okay?” Nick looked a bit worried.

“Yeah, everything is fine! Come on, you can finish your muffin on the way.” Judy was already walking outside the shop, heading for the police building two hundred meters away.

“Right behind you!” Nick replied with his mouth full, taking a quick sip from his hot coffee. Judy wasn’t as fast as usual, so it was no problem to keep up with her. He opened the main entrance door of the Precinct for her and indicated a bow: “Milady…”

Judy smiled softly and they both walked directly to the bullpen. To their surprise Bogo was already there, talking with a few officers including Fangmeyer. After sitting down on their seat, Judy slowly rubbed her temple. She wasn’t feeling too well, last night she could only sleep for one or two hours but didn’t plan to bother Nick with it. After drinking some coffee, she would be okay for sure.

“Silence!” Bogo shouted and the voices in the room died at once. “Last night we had another attack on a transformer station. As far as we can say right now another car bomb was used with the same binary explosive. We are assuming a plan on those incidents, maybe some blackmail attempt on Zoolectric. Francine, Higgins, you are going to meet the corporate lawyers of the electric company. Wilde, Hopps, you will meet with Fangmeyer and Marki and join their taskforce. Delgato and Wolford are already on-site of the second crime scene. Grizzoli, Snarlof, you are going to join them. The rest is on default patrol. Dismissed!”

* * *

####  _Tuesday, 8:02 o’clock – Conference room 1.12 at Precinct One_

Fangmeyer was standing in front of about a dozen colleagues from different divisions, including forensics, behavior analysis and the Bureau of Firearms and Explosives. He started with a quick summary of the second crime scene: “A stolen truck broke through the fence and was parked between three transformer units. The binary explosive was ignited with a remote control again, destroying the whole transformer station and causing another blackout in the inner-city.” On a big monitor he showed photos of the crime scene and a map with the affected area of the blackout. “Our technicians could restore most of the schematics of the explosive charge. Thanks to Officer Wilde we could identify the blueprint in the meantime: It’s one of several blueprints developed and used ten years ago by a serial bomber, a hyena named Adrian Bale. Detective Muzzler from the Bureau of Firearms and Explosives is going to explain those schematics now.”

An older lion stepped forward and thanked Fangmeyer. “I’m Detective Muzzler and my team and I analyzed the original blueprints. They are rather complex with a lot of traps and fake circuits and, once armed, nearly impossible to defuse. We didn’t see this design again after Bale was arrested. As far as we know he is the only one using specific hallmarks…” the lion showed the schematics of a few electric circuits. When he finished, the atmosphere in the room was in low spirits; Bales blueprints had used sensors, timers or remotes to fire the bomb or even multiple of those. The use of a programmable microprocessor made most of the logic hidden, without deep knowledge of the used programming it was nearly impossible to defuse it.

The next one presenting was Marki as head of the behavior analyses unit of the ZPD. He presented the old case of Adrian Bale. “When we finally caught him after several months, our chief negotiator got him to surrender. But during the arrest Bale used his remote control to fire a bomb and killed nine officers. His disregard and insensitivity against the live earned him a life imprisonment without any chance for probation.” Marki turned his head to Judy and Nick. “Hopps, you are one of our most talented interrogation experts. You are going to visit Bale in prison, we need to know who besides him knows about those blueprints. Wilde, you will accompany her. As Fangmeyer told me, you already have some detailed knowledge of those blueprints and may support Hopps during her interrogation!”

Both, Nick and Judy, nodded their head and Marki handed over to Fangmeyer again. “Okay, thank you. As we currently don’t know any motive, we are investigating in all directions. Forensics brought a lot of data with them we are going to analyze together. At 14 o’clock we will have a briefing with Delgato and Wolford to get their latest results from the crime scene. Everybody of you is reporting directly to me. Dismissed.”

* * *

####  _Tuesday, 11:37 o’clock – Meadowland Jail_

“I have read this police file now for the second time.” Nick said to Judy while they were sitting in the visiting room of the Meadowland Jail. “Adrian Bale’s efficient bombs killed every single target. They were highly accurate masterpieces, you could see and feel his passion for his work with every wire and electronic component.”

“So, did he only wanted to proof that he could make the perfect bomb?” Judy asked curiously. “Do we have a psychological profile in his file?”

Nick sighed and nodded. “This hyena is a really sick bastard. He is a textbook example of a psychopathic personality. He even pushed the next button on his remote during his arrest when he knew, it would only worsen his sentence. He killed all seven members of the bomb squad and two police officers on purpose, just for fun because he could.”

Judy’s ears sank and her muzzle twitched slightly. “I’m unable to grasp why some mammals are doing such horrible things. Yes, we learn to creep into the head of criminals; but I find it more than difficult to understand psychopaths. They seem to have no real reason for their actions.”

“Please be careful, Judy.” Nick said softly. “It can be dangerous to creep into the head of someone like Bale. If you stare into the abyss for too long, he starts to stare back into you…” he put his snout on Judy’s head between her ears, unwittingly scent marking her as a sign of protection.

“I promise, Nick.” She smiled softly, but turned her head with a stern look back to the door when she heard it being unlocked. Nick closed the police file and took a step back. He was attending this interrogation because he knew the blueprints. But Judy was the one who would lead the interrogation, and as much as he hated it: Bale should only concentrate on her…

* * *

####  _Tuesday, 13:04 o’clock – In the police rover_

“I think I could need a hot shower now; this Bale is really a creep.” Judy muttered while driving the police rover back to the precinct. “He seemed to be nearly aroused when we talked about the bombs!” she shivered with cold.

Nick was breathing deeply, grinding his teeth. “He was aroused, but not only because of the bombs.”

“What do you mean?”

“You.”

“Huh?” Judy looked a bit confused to him.

“He was aroused because of you. I could smell it. He wanted to put his fangs around your throat and bite, he even licked over his teeth absentmindedly a few times. It was … disgusting …” Nick mussitated, his paws clung into the armrest of the door.

“Okay, now I really could use this shower…” Judy shuddered with disgust. “But we did not found out to whom he gave his blueprints. He isn’t allowed to have visitors and most of the time he was in solitary confinement.”

Nick opened a second police file he got from the prison. “No visitors, not even police officers, in the last six years. And you are right, he was in solitary confinement for nearly the whole ten years, no personal contact to his fellow prisoners.” He continued to read a few more pages of reports, created by the prison administration.

Judy drove on the parking space of a fast-food restaurant. “I need to go to the bathroom, maybe you want to get some lunch meanwhile?” she smiled and left the car.

“Good idea, what should I order for you?” Nick asked eagerly.

“Just a small salad and a coffee, I’m not very hungry after this interrogation.” She headed directly to the toilet before Nick could say anything. With a quick shrug of his shoulders he walked to the counter and ordered a small salad and a coffee for Judy, and a veggie burger with French fries and a coke. He already sat at a small table in the corner of the room when Judy came back.

“Everything okay, carrots?” Nick asked worried after a short sniff with his nose.

“Yeah… “, she put the salad in front of herself and took a small sip from her coffee.

Nick put his paw onto hers and sighed. “You throw up on the toilet, Judy. And you eat near to nothing the last twenty-four-hours. Are you getting ill?”

Judy’s muzzle twitched slightly. “Couldn’t you have a small cold?” she smiled. “Yes, I had to vomit. But I’m not getting ill, it’s just the interrogation and what you said about your observations of Bale.”

“Sorry, carrots.” Nick looked guilty. “I really didn’t mean to horrify you about him. He is in jail after all, and I would never let him get close to you.”

“It’s okay.” She crawled with her thumb over his paw. “Let’s finish lunch, we have a briefing at the precinct in half an hour.”

* * *

####  _Tuesday, 15:19 o’clock - Conference room 1.12 at Precinct One_

Fangmeyer finished his presentation with the details of the second crime scene and the comparison to the first one. “We still have no idea why those two transformer stations were attacked. The cooperate lawyers of Zoolectric didn’t confirm the blackmail theory, neither. The only trace we currently have are those specific blueprints, but currently we cannot bring them into context. The footprints at the first crime scene couldn’t be further identified, they are most probably from a sheep or ram. Our technicians are currently trying to identify a pattern for the attacks based on their effects. Rather unlikely are market manipulations at the moment. There are way too many transformer stations in Zootopia to watch them all; our analysts are preparing a list with the most likely targets and we will have patrols around those starting this evening. Chief Bogo ensured that he will allocate us most of the night shift for this, you all will get your mission order from Wolford, who is organizing the schedule. But first: Get a few free hours until 18 o’clock; it’s going to be a long night and everyone should get some rest. Dismissed!”

As all colleagues were leaving their seats and started to talk with each other’s, Fangmeyer called: “Hopps, Wilde, a word!”

Nick and Judy walked over to Fangmeyer, who was already talking with Marki. The dire wolf turned around to the rabbit: “I read your report about the interrogation of Bale. You wrote, that he had no visitors and no contact with other prisoners. Still you are sure that he has something to do with the bombing?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Please, explain this…” Marki gestured to a few chairs and they all sat down around a small table.

“When we talked with Bale…” Judy began, “…it seemed as if he had expected us. He was self-complacent and wasn’t surprised in the least about the fact that someone was using his blueprints. This is leaving the only conclusion: He already knew that someone was building and using bombs with his blueprints.” She looked over to Nick and nodded.

“Well…” the fox started slowly, “…I suggested beforehand to the interrogation that we should try to spoof him for a suspicious expression.” Nick pulled one of the copied blueprints of the current bombs out of the case file and put it on the table. “I made some ineffective changes to the blueprint, here… and here…”, he drew a small circle around two wirings with a pencil. “This one shows clearly that the connected component is just a trap-circuit. And the second one…”

“Ah, I see…” Fangmeyer said, “…it’s an electrical short that disables the second mercury tilt switch.”

“Exactly.” Nick nodded.

“When we showed him the first, unchanged blueprint, Bale seemed to be professionally impressed by the work.” Judy continued, “Then we showed him the second one with the changes. He seemed to be hurt about those mistakes. He didn’t point them out to us, but he pushed the blueprint away and stated what a miserable copycat had used his hard work. His annoyance wasn’t played, and I’m sure he knows exactly who did those two bombings.”

“But how could he pass his blueprints to someone without it being on records?” Fangmeyer asked but the other three had no idea, either.

“Maybe it didn’t go on the record, because the accomplice was already inside the prison.” Wolford said, standing near them and overhearing most of their conversation. “I don’t speak of a fellow inmate…” he added when he noticed that Nick wanted to object. “…but one of correction officers.”

Judy seemed to be shocked and offended by the idea someone working for the ZPD could be involved into the bombings. “Impossible!” she blurted, but Fangmeyer slowly shook his head.

“Nothing is impossible, and that would be a good explanation how Bale could communicate with an accomplice. But the real question is still: Why?”

Marki added: “Bale is a psychopath, he always tried to kill mammals. The destruction of buildings never was one of his priorities. The current modus operandi is different, even if the blueprints are the same.”

“You two are exempted from the patrols this evening.” Fangmeyer finally said to Judy and Nick. “I want you to screen everyone working in the Meadowland Prison, including those who were fired in the last two years. Crosscheck them with Bales jail file. If there is really some insider involved, we need to find him.”

* * *

####  _Tuesday, 21:47 o’clock – Nick and Judy’s cubicle at Precinct One_

“Those are all reputable and hard-working mammals.” Judy said somewhat frustrated and closed another personnel file. “I’m really uncomfortable to snoop in their lives.”

Nick stretched his arms. “I know, carrots. But we have to contemplate that one of them is in cahoots with Bale. Maybe not as the bomber, but as a contact person. It’s only a question of time until someone gets hurt during a bomb attack.”

Judy sighed: “I know, Nick. But take another look at this pig. She has a lot of debts, but only because her ex-husband was a gambling-addict; she is working more extra shifts than most others just because she needs the money to feed her son.”

“But she also has volunteered a lot of those extra shifts in the section of the long-time inmates. And there are quite a lot of reports regarding Bale. We will talk to her and those other three guards…” Nick pointed to a short list with names. “Most probably she is innocent and just doing her job. But currently we are also just doing our job.”

“I know…” Judy sighed again and opened the next personnel file. “I’m feeling just so disillusioned.”

“Oh, I’m sure we have a personnel file at internal affairs, too. Well, at least I have. Or do you believe they aren’t closely watching a fox and former con man?” he winked.

“I don’t think, that…” Judy started, but Nick interrupted her.

“Our last audit was after we moved together into our new apartment.” Nick was still smiling, but Judy knew instantly that he was hurt by it.

“How do you …?” she started, but was interrupted again.

“They also wrote into their report that you have a positive effect on me. And I agree with them.” He smiled and gave her a short kiss. “I would never consider to do something that may disappoint you.”

Judy had to grin and rubbed her cheeks against him. “I don’t think that I really want to know wherefrom you know about the content of these reports.” She winked at him. “Okay, let’s continue with this list. We still have seven names to check!”

The next employee was a ram named Wooly Ramses. While Judy read his personnel file, Nick made a background check in other databases.

“Woah…” Nick hesitated with an amazed expression.

“Did you find anything interesting?” Judy asked with a bored expression, still looking through the rather unspectacular file.

“I don’t know, carrots. Would you call a criminal cousin something interesting?”

“Maybe his cousin is the black sheep of the family…”

“Wow, such a lame pun from you?” Nick grinned – “Well, actually his cousin has grey wool. But you should remember him better, because you kicked his ass – literally – out of a subway car.” Nick turned his computer screen in Judy’s direction to show her the crime file of Wooly Ramses’ cousin: Doug Ramses – the chemist and sniper who worked for Dawn Bellwether and created the night howler drug.

“Sweet cheese and crackers…” Judy’s eyes grew big. “Wooly Ramses is his cousin?”

“Yes, this is also the reason why Doug was sent to Tundratown’s jail instead of Meadowland. As it seems they wanted to prohibit a collision of interests. As far as I can see, Wooly has a clean slate himself. Not even a parking ticket on his name.”

“Well…” Judy hesitated – “maybe it’s really just an unhappy coincidence. Why should he cooperate with someone like Adrian Bale? Or why should he bust those transformer stations? As you just said, he has a clean slate himself. His only offense is a criminal family member.”

“Maybe…” Nick sounded doubtful. “But his name is definitely going onto this list.”

“Fine with me. But don’t prejudge him only because of our own past with his cousin. Okay, the next one is…” they were interrupted by the radio.

“10-33 for all units. We have a 10-89 and 10-70 at transformer station 12-B.”

Nick and Judy both gasped – that was another bombing at a transformer station. Judy was already opening some map on her computer.

“Transformer station 12-B is in Sahara Square and not on our list of guarded targets. We should go immediately!” she leaped from her chair, but nearly tripped, managing to get hold of the edge of their table in the last second.

“Woah, careful Judy!” Nick reached out his arm to support her. “What’s the matter?”

“I’m just a bit dizzy. Give me a second.” Judy closed her eyes and breathed deeply.

“Just sit down again…” Nick dragged her softly on her shoulder back to her chair. “There are more than enough officers on patrol to support on-site. We could help more if we try to find out how this last attack fits into the series.”

* * *

####  _Wednesday, 5:39 o’clock – Fangmeyer’s cubicle at Precinct One_

The Bengal tiger was rubbing his neck with a tired look at all the papers laying around on his desk. They had 54 officers on patrol last night, observing 27 high-probability targets. But the attacked transformer station was not on this list and the bomber could escape the third time in a row. And still no concrete trace they could follow. He didn’t sleep for two days and Chief Bogo was breathing down his neck – because the city administration was on his tail. And he would have a briefing with the chief in less than an hour, but still no new information.

“Coffee, Larry?” Nick asked with three cups of coffee in his paws the same moment Judy knocked on one of the cubicle walls. Fangmeyer turned his head and smiled mildly.

“Thanks guys.” He took one of the cups and yawned – “But some positive news would be better…”

“Well, as ill luck would have it …” Judy winked and walked up to his desk, unrolling a card of Zootopia.

“You worked out something?” Larry Fangmeyer was immediately wide awaken and sat straight on his chair.

“Maybe…” Judy started and unrolled an overhead transparency on top of the map. “This is the area that was affected by the first blackout. It’s not very big, as you know. And this…” she unrolled a second overhead transparency – “…is the area of the second blackout. This time a much larger area was affected, including one third of the first area. After the attack last night, we made this third layer with the area affected this time.” The rabbit unrolled the last overhead transparency on top of the other three. “As you can see, it’s again a big area, but only a very small of it is overlapping with the first two areas.”

“I see… this is just a small city block that was affected each time. You think that this was the bombers intention? To cause a blackout in this small area? But why?”

“We had no idea, either, until we took a look what buildings or companies are affected. And there is only one non-private building…” Judy looked over to Nick.

“The Zootopia pretrial detention center.” Completed the fox her statement.

Fangmeyer looked down on the map and the overhead transparencies, drinking from his hot coffee. “You are right; the pretrial detention center seems to be the only possible target. But how could those blackouts affect it? They have several emergency generators to power the gates, cell doors and other security facilities even during a blackout.”

“We are not sure, but there seems to be no other commonality between the blackouts. If you agree, Nick and I would visit the detention center and talk with the administrative head.” Judy suggested, and Fangmeyer nodded.

“Good idea, it’s the only trace we currently have. Did you find out anything about the employees at Meadowland Jail?”

“Well…” Judy hesitated and looked to Nick seeking for help.

“We have a short list of five names; nothing obviously, just a few saliences. But we should invite them for an interrogation just to be sure.”

“Okay, I will ask Marki and his team to support you with those.” Fangmeyer said – “It’s not the big breakthrough, but we finally have some new traces regarding the motive and the perpetrator. Really good work you two! I will make sure that Bogo will hear about it.” He smiled and looked down to the map. “Can you make me a copy of this? I have a briefing with the Chief in twenty minutes. And send those five names you’ve got per email, I will forward it to Marki.”

“This is already your copy of the map, Larry.” Nick took a sip of his own coffee.

“And we will meet the director of the pretrial detention center at 7 o’clock and will get back to you afterwards.” Judy added and the two left Fangmeyer’s cubicle again.

* * *

####  _Wednesday, 7:10 o’clock – Office of the director of the Pretrial Detention Center_

The director of the pretrial detention center in the inner-city of Zootopia was a middle-aged cheetah. He greeted Judy and Nick with a firm handshake and pointed to the chairs opposite his desk. “Hello Officers, take a seat please…” – and after he sat down himself, he leaned back in his chair, looking curiously. “How can I help you?”

“You were affected by some blackouts the last three nights, is that correct?” Judy asked.

“Yes, our main power supply failed three times for a few hours. It just came back two hours ago.”

“Did you experience any negative effects?”

“Well… actually, no, nothing at all.”

“What about your security systems or the cell locking mechanisms?” Nick asked.

“We would be really screwed if any of those systems would fail due to a blackout.” The cheetah smiled mildly. “This is the reason we have emergency generators.”

“And those were working every time the last three nights?” Judy chased up the subject.

“Like a charm. Whoever is causing those blackouts, he is not going to intimidate us with it. Our fuel depot last out for at least 48 hours of emergency power. And we already ordered new fuel to backfill it during the forenoon.”

“How many inmates do you currently have?” Judy asked, writing down some notes.

“A few hundred, most of them waiting for their court hearing.”

“Could you give us a list? We want to crosscheck those with our suspects.” Nick asked, handing a USB stick to the cheetah.

“Of course, just give me a minute…” the director inserted the USB stick into his computer and started to type a few queries.

* * *

####  _Tuesday, 9:07 o’clock – Conference room 1.39 at Precinct One_

Nick and Judy sat together with Fangmeyer, Wolford and Delgato in the small conference room; they were talking about the possible motive to cause a blackout in the pretrial detention center when Marki entered the room and sat down on the last free chair.

“I arranged the interviews with four of the suspects you determined, beginning at 10 o’clock. The only one we couldn’t reach is someone called Wooly Ramses. The prison director said that he had called in sick today and I sent Grizzoli and Snarlof to his house to check this.” The dire wolf rubbed with his paw over his head and looked rather tired – like everyone else in the room, too.

“Okay, thanks for the update.” Fangmeyer said, then turned his head back to the map of the inner-city that was laying on the table. “Our IT department didn’t find any new relationships between those three attacks. There are only those three buildings affected by all three blackouts…” he pointed with a claw on a small area of the map – “But those two are just apartment buildings and this is the detention center. We are currently checking the background of all residents living in those apartments, but I’m not very optimistic that we will find anything suspicious. The best guess was the pretrial detention center. And you’re sure that it wasn’t affected in any way by those blackouts?” he asked Judy and Nick, but both shook their head.

“The director said, that their emergency generators did start up every single time and there was no power outage.” Judy explained.

They were all silent for a few minutes, thinking about the facts.

“We have no chance to ascertain our unsub if we don’t know why he is blasting those transformer stations.” Marki finally said – “Something must be affected by those blackouts! How long can those emergency generators bypass a power-loss?”

Judy browsed through her notes: “Those emergency generators are powered with fuel, and their depots are sufficient for at least 48 hours of continuous operation.”

“Well, they have consumed quite some fuel during the last nights, didn’t they?” Marki suggested.

“I don’t think that they would just let those depots run dry…” Fangmeyer replied.

Judy shook her head: “No, they ordered new fuel to backfill their depots for today.”

Marki chuntered quietly and rubbed his eyes. “Okay, but you should still finish crosschecking their inmates with our case, just to be sure.”

“Of course.” Judy nodded her head – “We already checked the case files of about two-third of them.”

“Arthur McCoy …” Nick uttered under his breath.

Judy’s ears twitched a bit and Fangmeyer looked up to Nick. “A new suspect, Wilde?”

Nick seemed to be bemused and Judy had to nudge him with her elbow before he finally reacted. “What? Oh, sorry… I was just thinking about something.” He thoughtfully shook his head.

“Who is this McCoy?” Delgato asked probing.

“He is the founder of Bunnyburrow…” Nick explained absently and all others were staring in his direction.

“Maybe you should get some rest, Nick.” Fangmeyer said with a commiserating smile.

“Huh?” Nick looked irritated to him, then shook his head. “No, I’m fine. I was just thinking about Arthur McCoys plaster busts…”

“What are you talking about, Wilde?” Wolford sounded bugged.

“What is it with those busts?” Fangmeyer was calm and sounded a bit curious.

When the fox didn’t answer for a few moments, Judy nudged him again. “Nick?”

“Yes?” – he replied, then noticing all those questioning looks. “Oh, right … well, a thief had to smuggle some jewelry and couldn’t risk to be caught with them.” Nick started to explain to them. “Because he was working at a company creating those plaster busts of Arthur McCoy, he hid the jewelry within the still fresh plaster of a bust before he was arrested for something else. After he was released, he found out who bought the plaster busts and stole them to get back his loot.”

“Something like a Trojan horse?” Marki said thoughtfully.

“Exactly! But the other way around: With the Trojan horse they smuggled warriors behind the town walls. The thief used McCoy to smuggle his jewelry out of the factory.”

“You think, that…” Delgato started, but then shook his head again. “I have no idea what you are talking about.”

Then Marki was suddenly heads-up: “A Trojan horse! They want to use the tanker truck to get into the prison! An assassination attempt?”

Fangmeyer interrupted him exited: “Not a Trojan horse, a McCoy bust! They don’t want to break into the prison, it’s a prison breakout! Inside a tanker truck is enough room to transport several mammals and no one would examine it and take a look inside the tank when they left!”

“Yes, that’s the idea…” Nick smiled a bit. “But that still leaves the question whom they want to free.”

“Let’s take a mutual look at the rest of this list of inmates…” Fangmeyer was rummaging around in his papers but Judy already pulled out her tablet and connected it to the wall monitor.

“Always prepared for everything, huh?” Delgato grinned at her and seconds later Judy had opened the police database when someone knocked on the door and entered the room without waiting for an answer.

“Hey there, sorry to interrupt you. But there are a few mammals for Detective Marki. They have an appointment with you?” Clawhauser had put his head into the room.

“Delgato, Wolford… would you two start with those interviews? We still need to know the connection to Bale.” Marki handed the both colleagues the four personnel files he had brought with; they left the room together with Clawhauser. In the meanwhile, Judy finished opening the database.

“Okay, the last name we had checked before the briefing was Linda Nigrin, a forger of coins and jewelry.” She tipped a few commands into the search mask and a list with about 80 names was returned. “These are all inmates we didn’t check, yet. So, let’s start…” and in the same moment she opened the first entry.

It was short past ten when the name and photo of a rather famous criminal was shown on the big screen: A small sheep with green eyes and light brown glasses was staring down at all six sitting at the table – the former Mayor of Zootopia, Dawn Bellwether.

“She! They want to help Bellwether to break out of jail!” Nick exclaimed at once. Fangmeyer and Marki both looked doubtfully to him.

“We know that you have a common past, but…” Fangmeyer started, but Nick was already rummaging around in his own papers.

“Wait a second… I know that I printed a copy of… ha!” he pulled out a printed personnel file, in the header the logo of the Meadowland Prison was visible. “Wooly Ramses!”

“One of the guards in Meadowland Prison you had on your list of suspects?” Marki asked and took the personnel file from Nick, running down the three printed pages.

“Yes, and his cousin is Doug Ramses, the chemist and sniper that Bellwether had under contract! This must be the connection between Bale, the attacks on the transformer stations and the blackouts. They want to free Bellwether!”

Judy looked concerned to the big monitor with Bellwethers photo and police file. When Marki finished reading the personnel file, he handed it to Fangmeyer who also started to read it. The dire wolf was visible brooding over those new facts and their possible connection among one another. Nick was still excited, he never got over Bellwethers attempt at using him to kill Judy. The pent-up anger was clearly written in his face and Judy softly put her paw on his arm.

“Excuse us for a minute…” she said to Fangmeyer and Marki, who just nodded, and drew Nick on his arm with her outside of the room. After she had closed the door, Nick snorted scornfully.

“You have to calm, Nick.” Judy said softly, stroking with her paw over his’. “I know you hate her for what she did to you and all other predators, but that must not influence your judgment.” Nick had a pained expression on his face and it gave her a sting to see him like this.

“She tried to kill you!” Nick finally said after a while with a trembling voice.

“I know…” Judy smiled softly.

“She tried using me to … “, he couldn’t speak any further. Actually, Nick had nightmares for weeks after those events in the museum; most of the time they weren’t able to exchange the night howler with the blueberries and when he went savage he hunted for Judy, and finally killed her. He never told her about those nightmares and he didn’t have them for over a year. But now all of those memories came back at once. When he finally recovered his breath from his anxiety attack, he was looking into Judy’s big purple eyes; she was holding his face with her paws, stroking his cheeks with her thumbs and smiled softly.

“Is everything okay again, Nick?” she whispered a bit worried.

The fox slowly nodded with an eased smile. “Yes… thank you.” He gave her a little kiss on her nose and Judy snickered quietly.

“Always.” – and after returning his kiss, she asked: “Should we go back?”

“Of course.” He put on his con man smile and they entered the small conference room again.

Fangmeyer and Marki were discussing something and when Nick and Judy entered the room, they turned around.

“We think…”, said Fangmeyer, “that we should further investigate in this direction. I will drive to the pretrial detention center with a Quick Response Force. Even if it’s not Bellwether, chances are good that you are right with your theory of a jailbreak.”

“Snarlof called me.” Marki added – “He told us that Ramses wasn’t at home, but they could identify suspicious items through a window. Grizzoli is currently getting a search warrant for his home and I will meet them there with a forensics team and experts from the bomb squad.”

“Hopps, you are spelling Delgato and support Wolford with those interviews downstairs. We need to be sure that no other mammal is involved into this! Wilde, you are driving with Delgato to the Meadowland Prison, I want you to clear Ramses’ locker and get his work plan. Also get Adrian Bale to the Precinct, Chief Bogo is currently making the transfer documents ready. We need his testimony against Ramses.”

Nick wanted to object, but Marki said calmly: “I know that you two are normally working together, but these are particulars and we double checked with dispatch: Most other officers are currently not available and we need your individual expertise unfortunately at two different places. If there is any booby mine at Ramses’ locker, you are going to notice it, Wilde. And I need the bomb squad at Ramses’ home. Also you know Bale already. Hopps is one of our best interrogation officers, we have to make sure that none of the other suspects is involved with this.”

Nick sighed and nodded. “Yes, sir.”

“Okay, let’s go!” Fangmeyer said with a determined look and they all walked out of the room.

* * *

####  _Wednesday, 11:34 o’clock – Delgato’s Police Rover_

“Come on, don’t pull such a face, Nick.” the African lion said to Nick with a wink.

“Don’t take it personally, Don.” Nick smiled mildly. “It’s just really a long shift and the possibility of Bellwether involved in this got me wrong-footed.”

“I always thought it was that crime case that brought you to the forces. Didn’t you even meet your cute rabbit during the night howler case?”

“Don’t let Judy hear that cute-thingy.” Nick smirked, then replied: “But, yes, you’re right. I helped her as an… let’s call it informant back then; and we are a really good team since then.”

“So, shouldn’t you be rather thankful to Bellwether then?” Don Delgato chuckled, but when Nick didn’t answer him, he added: “Just joking, Nick. This crazy sheep is a terrorist and you shouldn’t let her get to you.”

“Will try it.” Nick put on his aviator sunglasses and looked out the window when they passed the border to the Meadowlands.

* * *

####  _Wednesday, 11:37 o’clock – Pretrial Detention Center_

The tanker truck drove through the main gate and followed a short path to the backside of the building. Three sheep in an overall got out of the truck; one of them started to unroll a big hose to connect it to the fill nozzle of the fuel depot, while the second one watched out for guards and the third ram knocked with his hooves against the hollow sounding tank. The hatch on top of the big tanker slowly opened and five rams in a uniform of the detention officers of the jail left the otherwise empty tank. With a counterfeit keycard they tried to open the side-door, but the lock just beeped two times and a red LED blinked.

“Damn it.” The ram with the keycard cursed and tried it again. But the lock just beeped again and stayed closed. “I don’t believe it, Ramses goofed the keycard copy! Olaf, get the crowbar, we have to break it open!”

But in the same moment a small dart hit the ram with the keycard directly into his neck; a few seconds later he sank to the floor unconsciously.

“What the…?” another sheep barked, but two more of his accomplices were going down and just a moment later half a dozen ZPD officers in SWAT gear surrounded the other sheep with their weapons at the ready.

“ZPD, everybody freezes!” Fangmeyer shouted.

* * *

####  _Wednesday, 12:14 o’clock – Wooly Ramses apartment_

“Room clear, no booby mines or other traps.” One of the officers of the bomb squad shouted and pulled his thumb up. Marki and the forensic team entered the room and the dire wolf shouted:

“Okay, box everything that could be used to build a bomb and all other evidences you find. I want to know what this ratfink was up to!”

After a few minutes going through some paper on Ramses’ desk, one of the crime scene unit shouted: “Detective Marki! You really should take a look at this…!”

“What is it?” Marki walked over to the colleague who was working in another room. The puma handed him a bunch of photos he had found in a drawer: Surveillance photos made with a telephoto lens of a certain rabbit in a police uniform, in plainclothes, writing tickets, eating lunch, driving a police rover, … Marki handed the photos back to the puma, grabbed his radio and ran towards the front door.

“Bomb squad, immediately back to the ZPD!” he shouted to the officers of the Firearms and Explosive department, then into the radio: “Code 10-89, possible 10-108 – 10-05 for Judy Hopps at Precinct One!”

* * *

####  _Wednesday, 12:29 o’clock – Delgato’s Police Rover_

In the back of the police rover sat Adrian Bale, fettered on his feet and paws. Nick bought some coffee for Delgato and himself in a small coffee shop while the lion was waiting inside the rover when the radio message from Marki came in. Delgato honked several times until Nick hurried out of the shop and jumped into the car.

“What’s the matter, Don?” Nick asked puzzled while the lion stepped on the gas and switched on the siren. “I’m not functional without enough caffeine… I was next in queue.”

“We have a Code 10-89 and a possible 10-108!”

“Another possible bomb threat and an officer in danger? Where and who?” Nick had some difficulties to hold on because Delgato was speeding into a curve.

“It’s Judy, Marki just announced it over the radio…”

Nick didn’t answer him; he felt like he had to vomit any second and a big lump was in his throat.

* * *

####  _Wednesday, 12:32 o’clock – ZPD car park_

Judy just finished the third interview and the fourth prison guard had not yet arrived. It was already noon and neither she nor Wolford had a breakfast, so Judy offered to go and get some lunch for them. Normally she would go to a takeaway near the precinct by feet, but after staying awake the whole night and those demanding interrogations, she was feeling too tired and decided to take the rover. She just sat down in the car when her phone rang and their wedding picture was announcing a call from Nick. With a smile she turned the car key and picked up the phone.

“Hey, sweetheart! I was just getting lunch, should I bring something for you, too?”

Nick breathed deeply: “Oh, god bless you! Where are you Judy?”

“In the car, still at the ZPD. Is everything okay, Nick? You’re sounding…”

“Judy! Don’t start the car! You’re Wooly’s next target, Marki found photos of you all over his place! They are trying to reach you via radio for minutes!” Nick sounded frantic, but Judy was staring on the screen of the satnav.

“I ... it’s too late … I already activated the bomb, it is going to detonate in 29 minutes …” Judy could hardly speak, the shock was profound.

Nick screamed some curse and hit the dashboard in front of him with his fist. “Okay…” he spoke on his already low-battery-beeping phone again with Judy – “…just stay calm, the bomb squad will arrive at the ZPD in less than 10 minutes and I will be there in less than 15. We will defuse the bomb and get you out of that car.” – his phone was beeping again, his battery already below four percent.

“I don’t want you to come near this car, Nick!” Judy nearly shouted.

“What are you talking about?”

“You know those blueprints! It’s nearly impossible to defuse these bombs, you know that! I will not allow you to get hurt by it, too!”

Nick was sure he could hear a bit of panic in Judy’s voice, something he never heard before from his rabbit. “I’m not going to let you alone, carrots! I will be there in ten minutes, tops. And we will get you out of that car!” – the phone did a last long beep, then the call was disconnected and Nick’s phone shows “Good Bye!” on the display.

“These bloody batteries, I forgot to charge them last night!” he threw the phone on the floor of the car while Delgato was avoiding a truck in front of them.

* * *

####  _Wednesday, 12:35 o’clock – ZPD car park, Judy’s Police Rover_

“Nick…? Nick…!” Judy stared on her phone, but the call was disconnected. She tried to call him again, but only got to his mailbox. She tried to breathe deeply, but eventually started to sob when her look roamed over the display of the satnav – ‘Bye, Bye, Bunny – 25:37’, the timer counting down every second. All kind of different thoughts were coming to her mind, then she thought about her family. She knew that this was maybe the last chance to talk to them. But she couldn’t stand hearing her mom or dad cry right now. Another minute passed on the timer, and Judy came to a conclusion, starting the video-messaging app on her phone…

* * *

####  _Wednesday, 12:48 o’clock – Car park of the ZPD_

The bomb squad arrived with Marki nearly at the same time as Delgato was driving onto the parking lot with squealing wheels. Even before his rover stopped completely, Nick opened the door and jumped out of it. A few colleagues tried to stop him, but Nick dodged them all – that is everyone but Chief Bogo, who obstructed him out of nowhere and hold him with a firm grip.

“Wilde! Just calm down! Our best experts are already working to defuse the bomb; you cannot go any closer!” he was surprisingly calm, but speaking with a determined voice. Nick was still struggling to get free and Bogo sighed, squatting in front of him. “Nick, listen!” – the fox still had panic in his eyes, but stopped struggling at least. “We do what we can, but I’m not willing to risk another cop’s life without stringent necessary!”

“I need a phone… I want to talk with her and my batteries died. Chief, please…” Nick looked defeated and his body was trembling. Without hesitation Bogo took his own phone from his pocket, unlocked it and handed it to Nick, nodding slowly; but he still kept his eyes glued to the fox, ready to stop any attempt to run to the police rover.

“Hello…?” Judy’s voice sounded thin and Nick was sure that she had cried, his heard feeling broken at once.

“Judy! I’m here! But Bogo doesn’t let me get near the car!”

“Oh, Nick…” she started to sob. “Please, don’t get any closer! I don’t want you to get hurt!”

“I don’t mind getting hurt, I would switch places with you without hesitation if I could. Just be patient, our guys are working on disarming the explosive.” Nick ran to the van of the bomb squad, where a monitor showed the streamed picture of the helmet camera. He started to study the layout while Judy tried to stop sobbing.

“Nick, we only have three minutes left. They won’t accomplish to defuse it.”

“Judy…”

“I love you, Nick. You have absolutely no idea how much I love you.” – she whined quietly – “I’m scared. I’m really scared, Nick. But I will be brave for you if you help me. Just, please… talk with me… I want to hear your voice.”

Nick didn’t know what to say or do. His thoughts were dashing through his head.

“We’ve got a problem here…” some voice came out of a speaker in the van. Until now Nick hadn’t realized that Fangmeyer was standing beside him until he spoke into the microphone now.

“What is it?”

“We could identify several trap circuits, but the last one is different from the original schematics. It’s a fifty percent chance that we fire the bomb immediately instead of defusing it, and there is not enough time left to analyze the circuit further.”

“You have absolutely no hint which of those two circuits is the fake one?”

“Not with less than two minutes left, sir.”

Fangmeyer stared on the monitor, trying to see the solution, any hint in the layout of the bomb, but to no avail. He turned his head to Nick, who was quietly talking soothing with Judy, but staring on the schematics, too. Fangmeyer sighed – if they cut the wrong wire, he would at least lose two officers; and he would lose at least one if he’s doing nothing. A short look to the timer showed one minute and 17 seconds left. When Nick suddenly started to run away, Fangmeyer wanted to stop him but then realized that he wasn’t running to Judy’s car – but to Delgato’s.

“Get him out of the car!” Nick shouted to Delgato, who looked irritated; but McHorn knew what Nick had in mind and a few seconds later the rhino had clutched the hyena at his handcuffs and dragged him out of the backseat of the car, shoving him over to the van of the bomb squad.

“Okay, Bale. This is your chance to get some brownie points to your file! You know this blueprint inside out, it’s you design! Just tell us, which of those both circuits is a trap, and which one will defuse the bomb.” Nick yelled at the hyena.

“What’s in it for me?” Bale smirked a bit, and Marki stepped beside Nick.

“You applied several times in the last ten years for eased detention conditions. We will arrange that you are no longer in solitary confinement. Meeting some other mammals from time to time may even improve your character.”

“I want also a visitors permit every weekend!” the hyena was now grinning widely.

“Once a month, Bale. This, or you will go stale for the rest of your lifetime sentence in tightened solitary confinement without seeing the daylight ever again. What is it?” Marki barked.

“33 seconds…” Fangmeyer said.

Bale stared at Marki for another three seconds, then made a step forward and looked onto the display. “The upper one… just cut the grey wire and the timer will stop.”

“Are you sure?” Marki asked alerted, watching Bales face closely for any hint of scam. “Not the purple wire?”

“Are you deaf? I said the grey one, or you will blow us all up!” Bale replied Marki’s look without any sign of a trick.

“You will get visitors permit and regular custody… is it really the grey wire you want us to cut?” Nick asked, the phone pressed to his ear.

“Yes, officer. I’m absolutely sure about this!”

Fangmeyer didn’t hesitated any longer and spoke in to the microphone. “It’s the grey wire, we talked with the designer and are sure…!”

“NO!” Nick yelled – “Cut the purple one!”

“What?!” Marki and Fangmeyer stared at him in disbelieve. “But I thought…”

Nick grabbed the microphone and repeated: “Cut the purple wire! It will defuse the bomb!”

“Sir…?”, the voice out of the speaker sounded nervous and Fangmeyer looked over to the timer – eleven seconds…

“Nick…?” the tiger looked worried at him, then to Bale – but the hyenas face was a deadpan.

The fox slowly said: “Please, trust me… we are talking about Judy.” – Fangmeyer still hesitated, five seconds left – “The purple one… please…” he repeated, and finally the tiger nodded slowly.

“It’s the purple wire, cut it!” Fangmeyer spoke into the microphone.

The same moment Nick talked to Judy: “I love you, Judy…”

“I love you, Nick… thank you for everything.”

One second left… and suddenly the display of the satnav went black.

The speaker cracked quietly, then the technician said: “Bomb defused.”

Nick breathed deeply and let the phone sank. Fangmeyer stepped beside him, putting his paw on Nick’s shoulder with a wide smile. “Good work, Wilde… really impressive.”

The officer from the bomb squad opened the driver’s door of Judy’s police rover and with wobbly knees Judy slowly left the car. The bomb squad officer walked behind her in his armored uniform, supporting the rabbit who still was somewhat insecure while walking. Judy waved with a smile to Nick, but the very same moment an ear-deafening explosion shook the earth and nearby standing officers were knocked over by the shock wave or flying debris.

The wind was blowing coldly in Nick’s face, but he couldn’t care less. Chief Bogo was snapping orders to everyone and Bale had started to laugh gleefully. But Nick’s only attention was on the blood and the body of Judy and the other officer in the armored uniform who were laying just a few meters in front of him. He was unable to speak or move, just staring open-mouthed, his whole body shaking and with jingling ears.

“Code 10-108, 10-52 at Precinct One for 10-45c! I repeat, Officers down in the car park of Precinct One, immediate ambulance needed!” – Bogo snapped at his radio, then turned around to Delgato and McHorn, who were keeping the still laughing hyena under control. “And get this psychopathic piece of dung out of my sight!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Less fluff, more action and stress this time... sorry for the cliffhanger :)  
> Let me know what you think.


	2. Three families

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Judy opened her eyes slightly, but couldn’t say anything but a quiet whimper; her body was trembling under Nick’s paws. After a few seconds she lost consciousness again. “The ambulance is nearly there, carrots. Just a few more minutes…” he talked to her but couldn’t recognize his own voice. Judy’s breathing was getting unsteady and quicker and she started to cough some blood; Nick could do nothing but gazing helplessly to his little bunny that was so fragile-looking right now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> > _“It's not important what we think, or what we do or what we believe in: each of us will die one day. Better to do as the old Yaqui Indians did: regard death as an advisor. Always ask: 'Since I'm going to die, what should I be doing now?'” - Paulo Coelho_

* * *

Over a hundred ZPD officers in their blue dress uniform were standing still on the town cemetery, a black stripe over their badge and silently listening to two lions playing the bagpipe and a drum (YouTube: “lpZiPZwwXhM”); in between a lot of civilians, too, mostly friends and family of the deceased officer, and a lot with tears in their eyes. Evelin had her head leaned against Sven’s shoulder and her husband hold her paw tight, trying to comfort her. Stu and Bonnie were equally holding paws, their ears snugged against the head. Nick’s face was a deadpan, staring dead ahead. It was late afternoon and the sun began to set when the funeral finished. The fox guided all rabbits to the car. While he was holding the rear door open for Bonnie to climb in, Chief Bogo called on him.

“Wilde… just a word.”

Nick made sure, his mother-in-law had entered the car completely and slowly closed the door, then turned around and walked a few steps to the large cape buffalo.

“Sir.”

“How are you?”, Chief Bogo asked in a rather uncommon calm voice.

“Fine.”

The Chief slowly nodded to the car. “What about…?”

“It will take a while.”

“I want you to meet our health counselor on Monday and after that come to my office.”

Nick nodded slowly, “Understood.”

The buffalo saluted and Nick replied the gesture, then walked back to his car slouchy with Bogo watching him carefully.

* * *

####  _Two days earlier in Bunnyburrow_

When Evelin finished the phone call with her mother-in-law, most of the kits were already finished with their lunch. She was still working at the community hall as a kindergartener despite her pregnancy; it was three weeks until she would have her first litter born and her colleague Desiree – another rabbit – was a great support. Of course Evelin couldn’t be up and about the whole day, but she loved to play with all those young children. Their group consisted of 37 kits, most of them rabbits.

“Frankie, don’t pull Beth on her ears. That’s very rude!” Evelin walked up to two squabbling bunnies and squatted between them.

“But Bettsie punched me first!” the little boy replied defiantly.

Evelin turned to the little girl: “And punching is very rude, too.” – she smiled softly. “I want you both to apologize to each other…”

Reluctantly both little kits murmured quietly a ‘Sorry’ and Evelin patted their both heads.

“Okay, what do you think. Should we draw a nice picture together?”, Evelin’s phone rang again with her family’s ringtone. “You can already get some paper and crayons, I will just answer the phone and will be with you in a minute.” – she winked and watched both little kits running cheerfully to a sideboard. Then she took her phone from her pocket – her mother’s picture was visible and she answered the call.

“Hey, Mom!”

“Hey Eve… I’m sorry to disturb you at work. Just wanted to ask if you had heard something from Judy or Nick today?” the old rabbit sounded a bit worried.

“I had a quick muzzletime call with Judy yesterday evening. Is everything okay?”

“Probably it’s nothing, my dear. Just got an odd video message from Judy and she seemed to be somewhat upset. But when I try to call her I’m always redirected to her mailbox at once, the same with Nick.”

Evelin remembered, that she got a video message from Judy half an hour ago, too.

“What was so odd with her message? Anything amiss?”

“No… she didn’t actually say anything like that but that she … loves us.”

Evelin snickered, “And that’s odd? I love you, too, Mom!”

But her mother’s voice still was serious and a bit worried. “It’s not what she said but… how she said it. It was kinda strange and alarming. Also, why didn’t she just called me but send a video message?”

“Judy and Nick are currently working on a difficult case, when we talked yesterday she said something about having to lucubrate. Maybe she is just sleeping right now.” Evelin smiled softly, but had a slight itchy feeling inside her stomach. Her parents could be overprotective really fast, but her mom’s gut instinct was most of the time correct.

“You are probably right… it’s totally harmless and I will just try to call her this evening again. Do you and Sven eat with us today or are you going to his parent’s burrow?”

“I think we will stay in Bunnyburrow today. He has some appointments at the city hall, submitting our construction plans.”

“Okay, looking forward to see you then! Bye, Eve!”

“Love you!”

When she ended the phone call, she searched for the received message from Judy. Normally they would just send text messages to each other’s, her sister sending out video messages first to their Mom and now to her, was indeed rather unusual. Even more regarding to the time of day: Judy hated to be bothered during her shift. When Evelin opened the messenger and chat history with Judy, she stared at the last item in disbelief. Not only showed it the first frame of the video – a rather sad and ruffled looking Judy Hopps with tear-stained eyes – but the video was almost five minutes in length. The bad feeling in her stomach got worse and she looked around for Desiree.

“Hey, Des…” she called her colleague, who was cleaning some plates from the table. “I have to make a private phone call, I will be back in 10 minutes, okay?”

“Take your time, Eve. I have a lock on everything in the meantime.”

Desiree waved at her with a smile and Evelin walked in the next room, a small restroom with a couch, a table and two chairs. After taking place on the couch, the young rabbit caressed over her pregnant belly with a smile after she felt some little kicks from the inside.

“Okay Juju, what’s on your mind…” she said to herself and finally pressed the play button.

* * *

Sven sat in the waiting area of the planning department and building control office of Bunnyburrow. The office was responsible for the whole Tri-Burrow-Area and there were quite some mammals waiting to have their construction plans approved. As it was currently November and most people wanted to start with their building project in spring, he had to wait in line with about a dozen other animals. The fact, that there were only sloths working in the department wasn’t accelerating things, neither. When he got a text message, he starred on his phone, reading the message from his wife twice:

“S.O.S. plz pick me up imdtly @ work”

While hurrying out of the city hall and back to his car, he tried to call Evelin but only got a busy tone. Swearing he searched for his keys, noticing that he had left his plans in the office. But at the moment he was just solicitous for Evelin and what might have happened. She was only in her fifth week of pregnancy, still three weeks to go. Maybe she had an accident? Without being able to think straight he stepped on the gas.

When he entered the community center a few minutes later, he had to ask at the reception in which room Evelin’s group of kits was, then hurried up a few stairs and knocked impatiently at a door on the left side. A white rabbit in a blue dress opened the door with a worried face, but she seemed to be relieved when she recognized Sven.

“Oh, Mister Brook, good to see you!” – she leaded him through the big room full with toys, books, tables and colorful wooden chairs. “I have no idea what happened, Evelin wanted to make a phone call and suddenly we heard her crying and sobbing.” Desiree carefully pushed a few of the little kits, that were all standing quietly around the door to the restroom and looking worried for Evelin, to the side. “Come on, let us through please…”

“Eve, darling!” Sven quickly squatted beside the couch and laid his arms around his wife, hugging her comforting. He exchanged looks with Desiree and the other rabbit left the room again, taking a few kits that entered, too, with her. After Evelin’s colleague closed the door and left them alone, Sven put his paws around his wife’s head and patted her softly. “Please, tell me what happened. Do you have pains? Should we go to Doctor Greenwood?”

Evelin was still weeping, even more since Sven was trying to comfort her. She barely managed to shook her head: “No…”

“What is it, then?” Sven sat beside her on the couch and was holding the trembling body of the rabbit in his arms. His face was worried and totally stranded. It took another few minutes until Evelin stopped crying and now was only sobbing quietly. “Eve, what happened?” he asked again, nearly frantic.

“Juju…” was the only word she could utter before starting to weep again, handing him her phone with shaking paws.

* * *

In a large villa in Tundratown, Raymond – a polar bear – was walking rather fast through the big hall. When he reached the door of his boss office, he knocked. A few seconds later, Koslov opened the door, looking questioning.

“I got some important message from our snitch at the ZPD!” Raymond said, and Mr. Big replied from his armchair on the other side of the room:

“It’s okay, Koslov.”

The even bigger polar bear, who blocked the door, stepped aside and let Raymond enter the office.

“What is it, Raymond?” the little arctic shrew asked with his chair turned slightly in his direction.

“Mister Big, Sir. Our tipster at the ZPD has contacted us with some information regarding the rabbit cop. As far as he knew she might be the victim of an act of vengeance.”

“Judy? What kind of vengeance? Is she okay?” the little shrew sounded honestly concerned.

“He did not want to say too much while on the phone, but there had been a bomb threat regarding her. Also we heard of an explosion at the ZPD, there are quite a lot of ambulances and fire service on-site at the moment. Our informant has no further information, yet. But as far as he knew it was the rabbits police rover that exploded.”

Mister Big folded his little paws and thought for a moment.

“I want you to figure out if the rabbit was hurt or even killed. And meet our informant as soon as possible. I want to know what happened.”

“Yes, of course Mister Big!”, Raymond bent down his head, then left the room again.

Koslov returned to his boss and sat down on a bigger version of the armchair beside him.

“Judy Hopps rendered us a big favor more than a single time.” The arctic shrew said thoughtfully, looking at the ring on his right hand. “Fru Fru would be heartbroken if something bad would happen to the rabbit cop. And I will not allow someone hurting my daughter! Also Judy is the godmother of my grandchild, she belongs to our family; even as a cop! Nobody is messing with our family. I want you to make sure that whoever is responsible for this will get a wholesome lesson as a warning for others!”

Koslov just nodded.

* * *

When Sven finished watching the video message from Judy, he put the phone aside. Evelin had calmed down a bit, still having her arms around his chest and resting her head on his shoulders. She wasn’t crying anymore, but still had tears rolling down her face and sobbed quietly. Sven caressed over her cheek.

“This sounds really serious. Did you try to call her?” he asked. Of course he was sure that she probably tried it several times already…

Evelin nodded slowly, “Mailbox only.” She muttered.

“Nick?”

“Same.”, her sobbing was getting worse again. “I even asked Ralph for her boss’s phone number; he has it since he did the videos for Nick’s marriage proposal. But I could not even reach the Chief on the phone. Something really terrible must have happened, I’m sure Sven! We have to drive there immediately, please!” she looked pleading at him with her tear-stained, swollen eyes.

Sven was hesitating for a moment. “Are you sure you want to drive to Zootopia? It’s a rather long trip and you shouldn’t travel that much in your last weeks of pregnancy. At least we should take the train instead, it’s less stressful.”

“There is nothing more stressful at the moment as the uncertainty. We are talking about Juju; I need to get there as soon as possible! Please, honey…” she started to cry quietly again.

Her husband sighed lightly and gave Evelin a kiss. “Okay, whiskers. We will drive to the city. Maybe you should refresh yourself a little in the bathroom while I will explain to Desiree that there is an emergency in the family and you have to go early.”

Evelin nodded and got off the couch. “Thanks…”

“Don’t mention it, as you said we are talking about Judy. I’m worried, too!”

While Evelin left for the bathroom, Sven entered the main room again and looked for Desiree. The white rabbit was sitting along with some other young rabbits and two black sheep at a table, painting in a coloring book. When she noticed Evelin’s husband she got up from her own chair and walked over to him.

“How is she?”, Desiree asked worried.

“She got an unforeseeable bad message from one of her older sisters and has an emotional shock, I think. But we don’t know any further details at the moment. Is it okay, if she leaves early today?”

“Oh my god, yes of course! I hope it is nothing serious.”

Sven nodded. “We, too”

“A few of her little siblings are also in our group...” Desiree looked over her shoulder. “Do you want me to tell them?”

“No, as long as we don’t know any details it’s better if we don’t flush birds. If they ask what’s the matter, just tell them she …” he shrugged with his shoulders. “I don’t know, had bumped her foot and that’s why she was crying?”

“Okay, don’t worry about that now. I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you!”

“Thank you.” Sven sighed and thought of the video message. Judy never was the dramatic type of mammal; when she was sending this farewell note to Evelin it must have been really serious, he was sure. But that she wasn’t answering her phone now leaves only one conclusion, namely Judy being dangerously wounded – or even worse. The imagination of it frightened him more than he would admit, but Evelin was on the verge of a mental breakdown. He was not only afraid for Judy, but also for Evelin and their unborn kits.

“Okay, let’s go.” Evelin entered the room and was nearly running towards the exit. “Bye Des!”

“Bye, darling. Give me a call if you know more.”, Desiree said sympathetic and when the little Hopps siblings Bella, Bobby and Lucas sprung off their chairs and wanted to follow their big sister, the white rabbit quickly grabbed them by their arms. “Come here, sweeties. Evelin is going with Sven, you will see her again later, okay?”

Sven waved a short goodbye and followed his wife out of the door, trying to catch up with her. “Eve, slow down a bit, please. You really shouldn’t run now!”

* * *

Nick’s shock of the exploding car, right after the relief that they could defuse the bomb, was profound and he was unable to move or speak. Everything around him played like in slow motion, just as if he wasn’t part of the scene himself. Someone was speaking to him and – when he didn’t react – shaking him on his shoulders.

“Are you injured? Nick!”, the shaking got worse and slowly he could recognize Marki standing right in front of him. The fox just nodded with his head, having totally misunderstood the question, then suddenly started to look frantically for Judy and leaped forward past the dire wolf. Just a few meters apart laid the body of his rabbit. He kneeled beside her, Judy laying on her side contorted and with bloody spots all over her fur. The flying debris – mostly small metal and glass shrapnel from the exploded car – injured her mostly on her back and head; being slammed on the floor left more injuries on her front. Her eyes were closed, but Nick could see her chest moving and he breathed a sigh of relief.

“Carrots!” he put his paws on her body and cheek. “Hang in there! The ambulance is already on its way. I will not leave your side!”

Judy opened her eyes slightly, but couldn’t say anything but a quiet whimper; her body was trembling under Nick’s paws. After a few seconds she lost consciousness again and Nick turned around to take a closer look to the scenery. Their old police rover was still burning, the flames being several meters large. In a perimeter of maybe ten meters were three other officers laying or kneeling on the floor, but already pulling themselves up again with the help of some colleagues. Just two meters behind Judy the body of the bomb squad member laid on the floor, Fangmeyer kneeling beside him. The armored body suite was shredded on the backside and a pool of blood grew beneath the unconscious colleague. He was a tiger as Nick could now recognize by the visible fur; his condition was at least as severe as Judy’s. In the distance the fox could hear wailing sirens that slowly became louder.

“The ambulance is nearly there, carrots. Just a few more minutes…” he talked to her but couldn’t recognize his own voice. Judy’s breathing was getting unsteady and quicker and she started to cough some blood; Nick could do nothing but gazing helplessly to his little bunny that was so fragile-looking right now. Someone put a hoof on his shoulder and when he turned around his head, Chief Bogo was standing right beside him. He must have asked something, based on his questioning look.

“She is alive, but her condition is getting unstable.” Nick nearly shouted to drown out all other noises. Bogo nodded briefly and ran to Fangmeyer and the other colleague. The fox noticed, that the cape buffalo had a few small slash wounds on his arm and face himself, but still was calm and had everything under control. Nick was venerating his Chief’s composure right now – he wouldn’t be able to do so.

Finally, an ambulance arrived on the parking deck and a short moment later was followed by two more. Over half a dozen paramedics left the cars with their emergency bags and rushed toward the different locations where injured officers were standing or even laying on the floor. Two were also approaching and kneeling beside Judy right now, thrusting Nick aside and starting to examine the rabbit.

* * *

Mister Big was listening to Koslov, who was reading out loud the most important details of the crime file Raymond brought them from their ZPD informant just a few minutes ago. It was a copy of the current case most of the police was working on: The bombing of the transformer stations, the jailbreak attempt with the tanker truck, the specific blueprints of Bale’s explosives, Wooly Ramses, … everything the cops had collated in the last three days. Raymond even made a few photos with his smartphone of the current crime scene and had passed the confirmation, that Judy Hopps was actually the next target by Wooly Ramses and currently dangerously wounded – but still alive.

“That is a good news.”, Mister Big nodded slowly. “Call Mister Otterton to send her a bouquet and also give Doctor Harrington a call. I only want the best medics to treat her.” – Harrington was the family doctor of the Big family, and one of the best surgeons and internists available in Zootopia.

* * *

During their whole two hours trip Evelin tried to reach Judy or Nick on their mobiles, but to no avail. In the distance the first high buildings of Zootopia became visible when her phone battery died and she throw it frustrated on the dashboard.

“You have to try to calm down a bit, honey…” Sven said worried.

“I cannot get her voice or her sad face out of my mind. Every time I close my eyes I see her crying, it’s tearing my heart apart. I fear the worst, Sven. She seemed so hopeless and final.” Evelin sobbed.

“I know, whiskers.” Sven sighed. “This video scared me to death, believe me! But I’m also worried about you. Please, try to calm down just a little bit. We will arrive in about twenty minutes, until then you cannot do anything.”

Evelin nodded and wiped away her tears again. After switching on the radio for some distracting music (YouTube: “rEbikGtruOc”), she looked out of the side window, watching the landscape rolling past. When the last song finished, the radio host started to talk again.

“That was ‘Bonfire’ by Alma and Felix, and now we are switching over to our live correspondent Mike Foster who is at Precinct One, the main police station of Zootopia where an hour ago a bomb attack was committed. Felix, could you see how the land lies?” – “Well, as far as I can ascertain, todays bombing was just the last one in a row of attacks. The blackouts of the last few days were also the direct consequences of bombings. Since the last attack was targeting not a transformer station like the previous ones but the officers at the ZPD, a terror attack cannot be ruled out at the moment. An insider told me, that the attack at the police station wasn’t random, but targeted at a specific officer, who’s name couldn’t be confirmed at this time; but based on an overheard radio transmission it was directed for Officer Judy Hopps of the ZPD. She attained mainstream fame in Zootopia nearly two years ago as the first bunny cop when she busted the former mayor of Zootopia, Dawn Bellwether, as the mastermind behind the night howler attacks. From reliable sources we learned that several ZPD officers were injured during the latest bombing, some of them still in a serious condition. If officer Hopps is also amongst them is currently unknown. Chief Bogo, head of the ZPD, announced in a first press statement, some suspects were already identified or even arrested, and the offence will be punished with the full vigour of the law.” – “Thank you, Felix. The bombing caused a lot of street barriers in midtown. Even public transport is detoured, some bus and tram lines were canceled for the next hours. You should bypass this region if possible! And now back to some more positive beats by Gazelle and her newest hit …”

Sven had to stop at the roadside because Evelin got so sick during the radio interview that she had to vomit. When she finally re-entered the car, her husband had switched off the radio again, looking even more worried than before.

“Are you alright?” he put his paw on her shoulder.

“It has to work.” Evelin said with blank voice and vacant expression.

Sven hesitated for a moment, but didn’t know what else to say. The news from the radio confirmed their grave concerns, even if nobody would have ever guessed a bombing in Zootopia. When he continued their road trip, he quietly asked:

“Did she mentioned any personal assaults when you talked to her yesterday?”

Evelin just shook her head. “She said something about a difficult case. And that they were doing extra hours. Everything seemed so normal…”

They drove for a few kilometers in silence when he said:

“The inner city is cordoned off. I don’t think that we can get to the police station right now.”

“We should try to get to the hospital. When there is any hope for her to be alive, she will be there.”

Sven nodded and when they entered the first suburb of Sahara Square he started to look out for corresponding street signs.

* * *

Nick was sitting in the waiting area of the Zootopia-Plainsboro-Hospital, together with Fangmeyer, Marki and Francine. Most colleagues had only light injuries and could be treated on-site. Bogo was still at the precinct, organizing forensics and clearing work, but promised to join them at the hospital as soon as possible. Only two officers had to be treated for serious injuries and were currently within the emergency department: Judy Hopps and Selah Reed, a Bengal tiger and the bomb squad member who was with Judy when the car exploded. The tiger had severe burns on his back and a small metal beam of the car body had penetrated his stomach, causing a massive blood loss. He kept away with his armored body most of the explosion shock wave and flying debris from the much smaller rabbit, that walked in front of him. But Judy had nonetheless quite a few injuries from flying shrapnel and from being crushed to the floor.

The ZPD officers were waiting for more information about their colleagues for nearly an hour, getting more and more nervous over time. Finally, a black cougar was entering the room in a green surgery coat and all police officers get up from their seats impatient and expectantly.

“Misses Hopps is out of surgery. She had some internal bleeding caused by two broken ribs that perforated her lungs. We also removed nearly two dozen shrapnel from her back and head, that caused a few gashes and several incised wounds. We also assume a cerebral concussion and her cardio-vascular levels are still somewhat unstable for currently unknown reasons.”

Nick’s face was a battlefield – he just wanted to know how Judy was doing and didn’t understand all those medical terms right now. Fangmeyer noticed that Nick was unable to cope with the situation, put his paw calming on the fox’ shoulder and then asked the cougar himself:

“How is Officer Hopps doing, will she be okay?”

 The doctor nodded slowly. “Sorry, I should have started with that… we will keep her under close observation for the next few hours and I arranged some more tests to determine the cause for the low blood pressure. But we assume that she will recover completely and can be discharged in a few days.”

“Thank goodness!” Nick breathed deeply with relief, as did all others, too. “Where is she?”

“She is still in anesthesia and need to rest. But you can visit your brave colleague tomorrow.”

“I’m going nowhere! I promised her that I will not leave her side!” Nick replied stubborn but the medic shook his head.

“I’m sorry, but be assured that we will take care of your partner.”

Nick’s legs started to turn into jelly, he was feeling too exhausted to have a verbal fight with the cougar, but also wasn’t willing to leave Judy alone.

“Excuse me doctor…?” Fangmeyer began.

“Harrington.” The cougar replied to the tiger.

“Doctor Harrington… Officers Wilde and Hopps are not only partners but also a married couple; and he had nearly lost her today due to a bomb attack. They were talking on the phone while they had to watch the timer of the bomb running down and it was kind of a wonder that we could safe her literally at the last second. Maybe you could make an exception for him, only this time; I believe it will also be in Officer Hopps’ interest if her husband will be at her side when she wakes up, don’t you think so?”

The cougar considered his options for a few seconds, then finally nodded. “Well, under these special conditions.” – he turned to Nick with a light smile. “I will escort you to her, but she really needs to rest for now. If you would like to follow me, Officer Wilde…”

Nick nodded and turned around to the Bengal tiger. “Thanks, Larry. I really owe you one.”

“Let her known that we all are wishing her to get well soon.” Francine said and Nick hurried away with the doctor.

* * *

Evelin could hardly walk alone; the psychological pressure of the past hours was finally too much for her already stressed pregnant body. She was feeling sick, her look was bleary because of her crying and she had a racking headache for a while now. Sven supported her while they entered the hospital and a nurse approached them immediately, offering the ill-looking rabbit a wheelchair.

“Are you in pain or are you even already in labor?” the young doe asked helpfully.

Evelin wanted to reject the offer, but Sven was already conducting her into the wheelchair.

“I’m no patient, I need to know if my sister was taken to this hospital!” Evelin said insistently after she sat down.

“Maybe you should let a doctor examine you…” Sven said calm, but noticeable worried about her.

The nurse was holding Evelin’s wrist, counting her pulse rate. “What gestation week are you in, Miss…?”

“Hopps. Like my sister, Judy Hopps. She is an ZPD officer and was most probably taken into this hospital as a patient! I want to see her immediately!”

“She is in the fifth week…” Sven answered the doe’s other question, staying as calm as possible. “We just arrived from Bunnyburrow by car because of her sister sending her a farewell note. On the way we heard about the bomb attacks on the radio. That’s why my wife is in such a bad and nervous condition.”

Evelin got off the wheelchair and nearly shouted: “I’m in no bad condition, I …” – she gasped suddenly and had to hold fast onto the doe to not faint, putting her other paw onto her belly.

“Eve!” Sven grabbed her arm immediately and pushed her softly back into the wheelchair. Slowly crawling over her head, he turned to the nurse. “I think we need a doctor for her…”

The doe nodded and wanted to turn around, but Evelin hold her on her white coat. “No! I first need to know if Judy is here! You can examine me as long as you want when I have seen my sister!”

“Eve… please be rational.” Sven begged but his wife just shook her head vigorously. He sighed and turned to the doe again – “Well, could you please take a look if her sister, ZPD Officer Judy Hopps, was brought into here?”

“I’m really sorry, but we are not allowed to give out patient information, especially not about ZPD officers.”

Evelin tried to get out of the wheelchair again, but this time Sven hold her down gently. The pregnant rabbit started to cry again helplessly, and her husband was looking to the nurse seeking for help.

“Mister and Misses Hopps-Brook?” an exhausted but still authoritative voice was heard from behind them and both, Evelin and Sven, turned their head. Chief Bogo had entered the foyer of the hospital and recognized the two rabbits at once. “What are you two doing here?” – he tried to sound noncommittal, but he was afraid that he already knew the answer, based on the crying bunny he last saw during her and Judy’s double wedding ten days ago.

“Chief Bogo!” Evelin sobbed and tried again to get off the chair, and again Sven was holding her back.

“Chief! Thank heaven that we meet you. We heard what happened on the radio and Evelin received a disturbing message from Judy a few hours ago. Assuming the worst we drove here immediately because we couldn’t reach neither Judy, Nick nor you on the phone.”

Frisking his pockets, the buffalo was swearing quietly. “I had lent my phone to Wilde shortly before the car bomb…” he hesitated and both’ rabbits’ eyes grew big. With a sigh he rubbed his eyes with a hoof. Then he slowly continued in a hushed tone: “The rumors from the news are sadly correct: Your sister was the target of a suspect who planned a bomb attack on her. She was sitting in her car when the bomb was armed, but we could disarm the explosive timely. Or at least we thought that we had disarmed it. Officer Hopps had just left the car accompanied by a colleague of the bomb squad when it exploded nevertheless.” Evelin whimpered, her paws put over her mouth. “She survived!” Bogo assured her immediately. “But both officers had serious injuries and were taken to the hospital. I was still on-site until now, but their colleagues are already here, including Officer W… - I mean, including Nick. I would suggest that we meet them to get the latest information, if you are feeling okay that is. Maybe you should see a doctor first…?” he suggested to Evelin slightly worried, but the rabbit shook her head vigorously again.

“I want to know how Juju is doing, first!”

_(YouTube: “Vy7yuj-UrNI”)_

Sven sighed but nodded slowly, as well did Bogo. “Okay, then please follow me…” the Chief said and headed for the emergency department. They approached an officer in uniform who was securing a door to a locked-down wing. He saluted to Chief Bogo and looked over the two rabbits escorting him. “They belong to Hopps and Wilde, they are allowed to pass.”

The officer nodded and let them all pass through the door. Behind it was another corridor with closed doors to both sides and a waiting room at the other end. They walked along the short hallway and noticed a doctor in a green surgery coat talking to Fangmeyer, Marki and Francine.

“I’m really sorry, we tried everything to safe your colleague but the injuries and the blood lost was just too big. Your friend didn’t regain consciousness again, I’m afraid.” The doctor was talking regretfully and Francine started to sob quietly while Marki tried to comfort Fangmeyer who collapsed into a chair. Bogo stopped dead in his tracks as did Sven.

“No!” – Evelin stumbled down her wheelchair while trying to get up and let herself fall onto the ground. She started to cry uncontrollably and Sven quickly kneeled beside her, putting his arms around her shoulders, having tears in his eyes himself. It was only then that the other officers noticed the two rabbits beside their chief. The doctor, a leopard, leaped over to the ill-looking pregnant rabbit and tried to examine her for injuries.

Bogo walked up to Fangmeyer, who was the team lead for this case. “It’s not your fault, Larry... you did a good job.” – Fangmeyer didn’t repeat anything but nodded lightly with his head. Bogo didn’t want to ask, but he had to. “They didn’t make it?”

As Fangmeyer couldn’t talk right now, Marki stepped in to explain: “Officer Selah Reed deceased on his injuries during surgery. Judy Hopps will probably ride it out, the next hours are somewhat critical. But the doctor is feeling optimistic about her getting a full recovery eventually. Wilde is with her right now, but she needs to rest for today and isn’t allowed to receive a further visit.”

Bogo breathed deeply, this was the first positive news in the last hours. With a few steps he walked over to Sven, who was kneeling with tears in his eyes beside Evelin. His wife was curled up on the floor and still weeping, the leopard trying to sooth and examine her.

“Please, calm down Misses Hopps. You misunderstood the situation, Judy is alive and on the road to recovery.” Bogo said slowly.

The doctor turned his head to the cape buffalo: “Hopps? Is she related with the other casualty, Officer Judy Hopps?”

Bogo nodded – “She is her sister and came to Zootopia when she heard about the assault.”

“And when she overheard me talking with your colleagues she thought I was talking about her sister…” the leopard turned to Evelin again, putting his paw on her shoulder. “Misses Hopps, your sister is alive. I’m so sorry about this misapprehension! But you have to try to calm down, please, and shouldn’t stay on the cold floor.”

Evelin had nearly stopped crying and was calming down slowly, trying to process the new information she got. Sven turned his head to the Chief with a sad look.

“Your other officer didn’t make it then?”

Bogo slowly shook his head. “Officer Reed. He was the bomb squad member and a close friend of Officer Fangmeyer over there since their common time at the academy.”

“My deepest condolences, Chief.” Sven shook the buffalos hoof, then turned back to Evelin who had stopped sobbing and sniveled silently. He handed her his paw, and when she grabbed it he helped her together with the leopard to get up from the floor and they sat her down in the wheelchair again.

“How is Juju? Can I see her?” Evelin spoke rather quiet with a hoarse voice.

Sven just hold her paw within his’ and watched the doctor examining her carefully: feeling her pulse, palpating her stomach, checking on her eyes and he finally tried to assume her temperature by putting his wrist on her forehead. When he stood up again, Evelin was still looking questioning at him.

“Your sister is currently sleeping, Misses Hopps. If you promise to not wake her up, I will escort you to her room.” – the leopard said softly and Evelin started to nod eagerly. “But first I want to make some further tests on you! Your eyes and throat are sore, your pulse is way too high and you are dehydrated. Do you feel sick or did you even had to vomit within the last hours?” – Evelin hesitated but nodded finally. “Well, it’s nothing serious. The last hours must have been a torment for you, I’m sure. But you also have to think about yourself and your unborn children now…” he smiled softly, then turned to Sven. “I will call a nurse to admit her and consult a gravidic specialist if this is okay with you.”

Sven nodded and kissed Evelin softly on her cheek. “Whatever you think is necessary, doctor. Thank you!”

* * *

Stu was trying to calm down his wife who was walking up and down the kitchen: “Bon, my dear. Please, stop fussing.”

“First Judy’s message and after that she gets unreachable. Now Bobby told us that Evelin started to cry out of a sudden in the kindergarten and left early. And she is also unreachable on the phone! Both our daughters are currently missing, and you really have the balls to tell me that I’m fussing?”

“Did you try to reach Nick or Sven? Maybe they…”

“Sven! He was in Bunnyburrow today, maybe Evelin is with him!”, Bonnie took out her phone again, searching for Sven’s number in her contacts. Stu smiled and nodded, sitting down at the table and waiting for Bonnie making the phone call.

“Mom! Dad!” Valentia rushed into the kitchen with a haunted facial expression. Both parents turned their head to her, Bonnie even forgot to dial Sven’s number. “You have to watch the news! Hurry!” – their daughter blurted out, then ran back to the living room where nearly thirty rabbits were sitting dead silent in front of the TV. Stu and Bonnie followed her on the heels with a worried look; the pressure in Valentia’s voice was disturbing.

When they reached the living room, the news report about the bomb attack on the ZPD was running, showing pictures of the burning car wreck made by a helicopter, several ambulances already on-side. “We got the confirmation now, that the bomb attempt was directed to Officer Judy Hopps and that it’s her police rover that exploded on the area of precinct one. Several ZPD members were injured, including the very first rabbit cop and members of the ZPD bomb squad. They are currently under surgery in the Zootopia-Plainsboro-Hospital. This bomb attack was only the last one in a series of assaults that caused the blackouts in the past days. In a first statement Chief Bogo assured, that some suspects for the attack were already arrested, others are currently still on the run.” – a short clip from the press conference with Bogo was shown.

“Sweet cheese and crackers…” Bonnie gasped, but Stu collapsed into an armchair and panted for air, unable to speak. “Stu!” his wife was even more scared-looking now. “Valentia, call Doctor Greenwood immediately and switch off the TV! Stu, my dear, take a deep breath…”, she opened the top buttons of his shirt and patted his cheek.

* * *

( _YouTube: “y8AWFf7EAc4”_ )

Nick sat on a wooden chair beside Judy’s hospital bed. His bunny was sleeping peacefully, an oxygen tubing over her mouth and muzzle, electrodes on her chest and an IV line in her paw. She had a few bald spots on her fur where gashes had to be stitched up and a bandage was around her upper body. Nick was holding Judy’s paw in his’, watching her with dull eyes. He had made a big mistake when he intervened in the disarming of the bomb, nearly killing Judy and Officer Reed in doing so. He hadn’t talked with Bogo yet, but it couldn’t get any worse than the reproaches he already made himself. His eyes were closing and he dozed off for just a few seconds – but startled again immediately. The moment he closed his eyes he saw Judy flying through the air from the explosion, hearing the cackle of the hyena. With a sigh he rubbed his eyes, putting a soft kiss on Judy’s paw.

“Nick…”

The fox turned his head with surprise. “Evelin? How did you…” he got off his chair, but then stopped. Judy’s sister and best friend was sitting in a wheelchair, pushed by a nurse, and had also an IV line in her paw. “For carrots sake, what happened to you, are you okay?” he spoke quietly, but his voice was in panic.

“You have 30 minutes, Misses Hopps. I will pick you up again then.” The nurse said polite with a soft smile and nodded to Nick when leaving the room.

“This?” – the pregnant bunny made a short gesture to the IV line – “This is nothing. How is Judy?” Evelin tried to get up, but Nick leaped beside her, putting his paw on her arm.

“Wait, I don’t think that you should get up…” he pushed the wheelchair with his sister-in-law slowly towards the hospital bed and repeated with a quiet voice what the doctor had said previously about Judy’s condition.

“How could this happen, Nick? On the radio they said that it was a specific assault against Judy. Who would do this to her?” Evelin started to hold her sisters paw and crawled it slowly with a sad look.

“I’m not aware of the current state of investigations.” Nick shrugged with his shoulders and sighed. “She was at the precinct while I had another assignment; the first time I heard about the assault against her was on the police radio. But it may have something to do with our old night howler case.” He didn’t have the heart to tell her that he was eventually responsible for the explosion.

“The night howler case? But this is already two years ago!”

Nick shrugged his shoulders again and sat on his chair beside Evelin.

“Are you really okay, Eve? Sorry to say it, but you look terrible…” the fox tried to smile but it felt like an embalmed leer.

“Let’s say, it was a demanding day that left its mark on me.” She raised her paw with the IV line and Nick took it within his paw. “But it was Judy’s life that was at stake, I would do it again and yet again.”

They hold each other’s paw and that of Judy, watching her together in silence.

* * *

Doctor Greenwood was examining Stu Hopps in the living room. All Hopps kits were sent to left the room, only Bonnie was sitting on a nearby couch. It knocked on the door, and Valentia put her head through the door:

“Sorry to disturb you, but Sven is on the phone.” – Bonnie had given her mobile to her daughter to answer the calls, because since Judy’s name was on the news it was constantly ringing from friends and family members who asked for more information.

“Green carrot, I totally forgot to call him because of Evelin.” Bonnie sighed, but shook her head – “I will call him back later, my dear…”

“He said it’s important, he has new information about Judy, Mom.”

“Judy? What is it?” Stu Hopps turned his head and sounded nervously.

“Please, discuss this outside of this room! I need it to be quiet in here.”, Doctor Greenwood looked disapproving to Valentia; Bonnie got off the couch and put her paw on Stu’s.

“Take some rest, Stu. I will talk with Sven in the meantime.”

When she followed her daughter out of the room, she took the phone.

“Bonnie here. Hey Sven. I wanted to call you a while ago because of Evelin, but as you presumably have heard already, Judy was on the news and we don’t know how she is doing…”

“That’s why I’m calling, Bon.” Sven interrupted her – “Judy is out of surgery and alive, but has to rest for today. Evelin is currently with her and Nick.”

“Thank goodness!” Bonnie breathed a sigh of relief and started to smile. “We already feared the worst… wait, you and Evelin are in Zootopia?”

“Yes…”

“But it came on the news just half an hour ago, how did you…?”

“Evelin got a video message from Judy, too. She opened it right after you called her this noon.”

“And you two drove to the city immediately? What did Judy say?” Bonnie sounded worried again.

“It was rather… disturbing. I would prefer not to talk about it now, not on the phone, Bon.”

“I understand.” – Bon sighed. “How is Evelin? It must have been a shock for her; Bobby told us she was crying in the kindergarten.” Sven hesitated to answer and his mother-in-law went into it. “Sven? How is Eve? Is she okay, too?”

“Well, yes…”

“Sven!”

“Evelin had a meltdown and eventually collapsed when we arrived at the hospital and thought that Judy didn’t…” he sighed and could hear Bonnie gasping. “She had a medical and is okay!” he assured her. “As I said, she is currently with Judy and Nick and will call you later, but I thought I would give you a short call as a warning. I wasn’t sure if you already had heard of the attacks from a newscast.”

“I’m afraid so, they reported about it in the news magazine at six.” Bonnie hesitated for a moment, then continued somewhat uneasy: “Stu collapsed into a chair when he saw it, we had to call Doctor Greenwood.”

“Sweet cheese and crackers!” Sven gasped, “How is he?”

“Doctor Greenwood doesn’t think that it is a heart attack but a jar. He is still examining him, though.”

“Sorry, Bon. I should have called you earlier.” Sven sounded guilty, but Bonnie quickly comfort him.

“It’s not your fault, Sven! You had enough on your plate with Judy and Evelin, and I’m really glad that both are going to be okay. I will pass on the news immediately! Say them all greetings from us.”

“Of course, Bon. Bye…”

“Thanks for calling, my dear! Bye!”

* * *

After nearly 40 minutes, the nurse came back to Judy’s hospital room to pick up Evelin again. “It’s time, Misses Hopps, I’m sorry.”

Evelin sighed and gave her sleeping sister a kiss on her forehead. Then she hugged Nick:

“Thank you. We will come back tomorrow to see after her.”

Nick nodded slowly and replied: “Greetings to Sven and your parents when you are going to call them later.”

“Yes, of course.”

“Officer Wilde, your Chief is waiting outside and want to talk to you for a moment.” The nurse said quietly to the fox when she took the wheelchair. Nick nodded slowly, gave Judy a kiss on her forehead, too, and followed the doe and the rabbit out of the room. When they entered the waiting area, only Sven and Bogo were still there. Nick assumed, that the others were with Reed right now and hoped the tiger was doing as well as his own partner.

“Nick!” Sven jumped from his seat, walked up to the fox and hugged him. “I’m so sorry…”

“Thank you, Sven. I would have preferred to meet again under better circumstances but it’s good to see you.” Nick patted the rabbits back and smiled lightly. “I already gave Eve our key to the apartment, needless to say that you can stay as long as you like.”

“That’s really generous, thank you.”

“Don’t mention it, of course you are always welcomed!”

“Would you excuse us for just a minute, Mister Hopps-Brooks? I have to talk with Officer Wilde.” Chief Bogo had walked up to them and the rabbit nodded slowly.

“Of course, Chief Bogo.” Sven said, then to Nick: “We will come back for a visit tomorrow. Keep a stiff upper lip!” he smiled softly.

“I will make sure that my Officers will let you pass to visit Officer Hopps tomorrow again.” Bogo assured the rabbits who thanked him and left the room. When he finally was alone with Nick, he gestured to the chairs at the wall and followed Nick to them.

“How is Officer Reed, Chief?” Nick asked after sitting down.

Bogo sat beside him and shook his head. “Selah Reed deceased during the surgery, his injuries and the blood lost were just too big.”

Nicks brighter parts of his head went pale and he lost every facial expression, slouching his shoulders. “I-I am sorry, Chief… I… don’t know what to say…”

“You better should think about something until tomorrow.” The cape buffalo closed his eyes and rubbed with a hoof his nasal ridge. “You intervened during the disarming of an explosive charge and as a direct succession of this, one Officer was seriously injured and another one was killed. I already talked with Marki and Fangmeyer, they came to your defense and justified your decision; and I’m willing to follow their appraisal of the situation. But internal affairs are already on-site and started their own investigation. They are going to interview you tomorrow. I really have no alternative but to suspend you for the period of their investigation.”

“Yes sir.” Nick said with a defeated voice, but Bogo put his hoof on his shoulder.

“Just be honest, explain what happened in detail. I will do what I can to accelerate this investigation and bring you back on-duty. Mistakes do happen, don’t be too hard on yourself. Take the time to keep an eye on your partner. I also assigned two Officers as guards for Hopps and you who will make sure that neither Ramses nor anybody else will finalize what they started; he is still on the run.”

“Thanks, Chief…”

The cape buffalo got off his chair. “Best wishes for Judy when she wakes up. I will accompany the detectives of the internal affairs unit when they are interviewing you. And try to get some sleep, you look terrible, Wilde…”

After the Chief left him alone, Nick went to the public restroom and splashed some cold water into his face. Leaning with both arms on the vanity, he considered his own mirror image for a while. He caused the death of another mammal, even another police officer! With his paw he stroked over his police badge on his chest – he wasn’t sure if he could live with this burden.

When he left the restroom, he got a cup of hot coffee from a vending machine, tried a sip and grimaced – this one was even worse than the one in their office. After disposing it into the next trashcan, he walked back to Judy’s hospital room. The rabbit was still sleeping, the heart rate monitor beeping in a constant rhythm. Nick sat down on the wooden chair and hold her paw, keeping his dull eyes glued to her the whole night.

* * *

It was towards zero when Wooly Ramses walked through some back alley. They had prepared their plan for more than a year: Calculating what transformer stations had to be shut down to cause a blackout exactly in their desired area, wrangle someone into the company responsible for the fuel transports of the government buildings like the pretrial detention center, gaining the trust of the best bomb builder, … all shoot down by the ZPD at the last minute by arresting his crew, and now he was on the wanted list. The only thing that worked out was the assassination on the one cop he hated more than every other cop: Judy Hopps! She had arrested his cousin and Bellwether and ruined all their dreams. Vengeance was the only thing he had in mind for the last years, and the former mayor got the connections and money to finally realize it. Her only condition was to be freed out of jail. Well, the prison break went wrong, but at least he had his vengeance: The news was reporting for hours about the bomb attack at the ZPD, the pictures of the exploded car were quite satisfying and it was reported that at least one officer was killed.

“So much for the first and probably last rabbit officer.”, he snarled and took another sip from his beer bottle. He would have to leave the city for a while, maybe he could go to the eastern coast and start all over again with a new identity. His contact at the bar liaised him someone who could get him fake IDs and a train ticket and he should meet him now in this back alley.

“Are you Wooly Ramses?” a gritty voice with a Russian accent asked out of a dark spot.

The ram turned around startled and took a closer look; a big mammal was standing right behind him in a corner.

“Yes. Well, I hope not for much longer that is… you’ve got the documents?”

A big polar bear was stepping out of the shadows, his face dimly lit by the moon and a far off light post.

“I have indeed a message for you from Mister Big.”

Ramses was getting uneasy; he had no idea, that his contact was a member of the Mafia family. Somewhat nervous he turned into the other direction and wanted to leave the back alley – but both ends were now each blocked by two other polar bears.

“What do you want from me? I have nothing to do with Mister Big’s businesses or family!” the ram said on edge and retreated a few steps, knocking down some trash bins.

“You tried to kill the godmother of Mister Big’s granddaughter, and Mister Big isn’t appreciating someone assaulting the family.”

“What…?! No, this is all a big misunderstanding!” Ramses was nearly screaming in panic now.

* * *

_(YouTube: “HFC8V4iHAUc”)_

_“Nick, we only have three minutes left. They won’t accomplish to defuse it.” Judy’s voice was sad and final. “I love you, Nick. You have absolutely no idea how much I love you.” – she whined quietly – “I’m scared. I’m really scared, Nick. But I will be brave for you if you help me. Just, please… talk with me… I want to hear your voice.”_

_Nick grabbed the microphone and repeated: “Cut the purple wire! It will defuse the bomb!” Then he spoke into the phone again: “I love you, Judy…”_

_“I love you, Nick… thank you for everything.”_

_Then the police rover exploded with Judy sitting behind the wheel._

The fox woke up, drenched in sweat and with a frantic facial expression. “Judy!”

“I’m here, foxtrot.” Judy stroke with her paw over his snout; her voice was a bit thin, but she was awake and smiled softly at him.

Nick’s eyes grew wide, and his frantic expression gave way for a fortunate one. “Judy…” he smiled with tears of joy in his eyes, then dashed forward and hugged her carefully.

“It’s okay, Nick… everything is okay…” Judy returned his hug and whispered in his ears, quietly sniveling.

* * *

When Sven and Evelin came to visit Judy after the breakfast, the pregnant rabbit looked much better than the day before. Her fur was shiny again after a long shower in Nick’s and Judy’s apartment and she wore some white and purple sweater that belonged to her older sister. Judy was surprised but rather happy when she saw her sister and brother-in-law; and when Nick had to leave for his interview with the internal affairs department he was glad, that she had some company.

The three rabbits were sitting in the hospital room; Judy wasn’t allowed to leave her bed yet but Sven had brought some cards and they were playing skat for a while now.

“I’m really happy that you are here.” Judy smiled after they finished another round.

“Anytime, Judy.” Sven replied also with a smile.

“Yeah, anytime Juju…” Evelin tried to smile, but eventually looked down. “You really scared the heck out of me.”

“I’m sorry, Eve.” Judy looked sad, she could only guess how much her sister must have suffered.

Evelin shook her head sighing and without raising her eyes she continued: “Your video message …” – Judy sighed and put her paw comforting on Evelin’s. “You were so sad and final… I had never seen you like this before and I… I thought, that you… I mean, that …” – it was to no avail, Evelin wasn’t able to speak out her thoughts aloud.

Judy’s expression was sad and even guilty. “I had never thought of getting into a situation like this. And I suddenly realized, that there was still so much I wanted to tell you and Mom and Dad and Nick and all the others… I really didn’t mean to upset you so much.”

Evelin gave a laugh and sobbed shortly. “Just promise that you will try not to get in any mortal danger in the near future.” – she patted her pregnant belly and winked – “Or at least just for the next few weeks.”

Judy grinned somewhat and nodded: “I give you my word that I will try my best, sis!” – then she was getting serious again. “Did you show the message to our parents or … Nick?”

Evelin shook her head. “No, Sven is the only one, besides me that is.”

“I think we should leave it like that. Mom and Dad would just get upset.”

Sven looked somewhat uneasy with a side look to his wife. “Bonnie already asked me about more details of the video…”

“Me, too.” Evelin replied with a sigh. “I said to her that you recorded the message in the belief that it would be your last option for a farewell note. She agreed with me that it would be wrong to watch it, now you survived.” Evelin hold the paw of her sister tightly in hers.

Judy nodded slowly, “Thanks, Eve.” – but her sister already started to grin slyly.

“Well… but I’m not sure if I could keep your little confession to myself.” She winked, and when Judy didn’t grasp what she was getting at, she suggested: “You know, baby bunnies love to have some playmates in their own age. It’s not too late for you now…” – Evelin snickered when Judy flushed and the heart monitor was accelerating its beeps.

* * *

“You cannot drive to the city in your condition, Stu!” Bonnie insisted while cooking pasta for lunch.

“Bon, we have to! Remember when we drove all the way up to Tumbia to visit your sister Eames after she broke her wrist last year? This time it’s our daughter and she was blown up! And Zootopia is only two-thirds the kilometers away as Tumbia!”

Bonnie sighed and turned around to her husband with tears in her eyes. “Do you think I don’t want to be with Judy right now? I’m worried sick, honey!” – she hugged him tightly. “But you scared me to death when you collapsed yesterday, and Doctor Greenwood made it clear that you have to rest for a few days! Remember your granddad? He had his first heart attack when he was your age!”

“I’m not Gramps, Bon! I’m feeling okay again, it was just the shock. Also we can take the train instead of taking the truck.”

“Stu…” Bonnie stumbled unsure.

“Honey…” Stu was nearly begging with his sad, big eyes.

Bonnie sighed – “When we call Nick and Judy later, we will ask if it is okay for us to visit them tomorrow.” – Stu wanted to object, but Bonnie lift her hand in defense – “Tomorrow! Today you are still going to rest. Also I have to call Ralph, Clara and Jana if they can help out their siblings while we are gone.”

“Okay, thanks honey!”

“Don’t give me that ‘thanks honey’, if this over-excitement is giving you a heart attack or stroke, I’m going to slough you!” Bonnie winked with a soft smile.

“Fair enough.” Stu gave her a tender kiss and hugged her again.

* * *

It was already afternoon when Nick finally entered Judy’s hospital room again. He wore some black jeans with a dark blue shirt now and had a bouquet in his paws.

“Nick!” Judy smiled alleviated – “Sweet carrot where have you been? You were away for nearly five hours!”

“The interview took longer than expected.” – he smiled weakly and put the flowers on the table. “How are you, carrots?”

“I’m fine.”

“Your headache and the oppressive feeling in your chest?”

“Both became better, I’m really okay, foxtrot.” She smiled and when he was finally in range of her arms, she hugged him tightly. “What did the commission of inquiry said?”

“Maybe we should leave you alone for a while…” Sven suggested, but Nick shook his head.

“It’s okay, I think you deserve to learn the full truth, too.”

Evelin raised an eyebrow but Judy sighed: “Stop blaming yourself for the explosion, Nick. You didn’t plant the bomb.”

“No, that was Ramses. He was recorded by the security cameras on the parking deck.”

“I’m somewhat confused, maybe you could tell us everything from the beginning?” Evelin suggested.

It took Nick nearly an hour to tell the whole story, supplemented by a few details from Judy. They all sat quietly together for a few minutes after he finished.

“Why didn’t the bomb explode immediately when the wrong wire was cut?” Sven asked eventually. Nick shrugged his shoulders, but Evelin said:

“Maybe it wasn’t the wrong wire and you were right about the hyena lying to you? What made you so sure about that anyway?”

Nick got off his chair and walked to the only picture in the room, a colorful forest with a wooden hut on a glade. He put his paws into his pockets, then replied: “It was something I had read in Bale’s old interrogation transcripts. When asked by the detective at that time why he detonated the bomb even after being arrested, Bale said he could never resist the emotional rush of being able to kill. And I remembered his bloodlust while Judy was interrogating him. When he eventually had the chance to kill her and even being able to let me watch it, I was sure that he couldn’t resist.”

“Sounds plausible to me. Really disgusting, but plausible; he was like a junkie – dried out and a jolt just hanging in front of his snout.” Evelin declared her thoughts.

“Plausible or not, I was obviously wrong. I killed Reed and by a whisker even …” he stopped talking and leaned his forehead against the wall.

“Judy is right; you should stop blaming yourself. You acted the best, based on your knowledge and believe. And at least Judy will recover completely. It’s Ramses that has to be brought to justice for this.” Sven had get off his chair, walked over to Nick and put his paw on the fox’s shoulders.

“Well, it may be a little too late for this.” Nick turned slowly around.

“What do you mean?” Judy asked.

“His corpse was found today in the early hours; apparently he was beat to a pulp and thrown in the river to eliminate potential traces.”

“Sweet cheese and crackers!” Evelin hold in a scream and put a paw in front of her mouth.

“I’m difficult to pity him.” Sven muttered, but looked shocked nevertheless.

Nick smiled somewhat amused. “If the officers securing this wing had not testified that I was in your room the whole night, and forensics would not had reported that the attacker was at least twice as large as I am, internal affairs would have arrested me for it only too willingly.”

“Oh, Nick! You would never do such a thing, I’m sure!” Judy assured him her allegiance at once.

“Thanks, carrots.” The fox smiled lightly and sat down beside her again.

“Do you already know, when Selah Reed’s funeral will take place?” Judy asked after a few minutes of silence.

“Tomorrow at 15 o’clock.”

“I want to attend, too…”

“Juju, you were blown up and are still in hospital!” Evelin protested.

“I only survived the explosion because of him. I owe him this, Eve!”

Nick sighed, he had already feared that Judy insisted on going to the funeral. “Let’s see what the doctor will say tomorrow, carrots. Okay?”

“Okay… but then I would suggest you are starting to shuffle the cards for some poker. I’m on a lucky streak, you know? Surviving a car bomb and so on…” Judy winked and shoved the card deck to the eye-rolling fox.

It knocked at the door and one of the two officers responsible for their security entered the room. “Excuse me, but there is a visitor for you Officer Hopps. She said she is your mother-in-law?”

“Martha!” Judy smiled happily.

“Mom!” Nick got off his chair and hugged his mother. “Thank you, it’s okay…” he nodded to the officer who left the room again.

* * *

( _YouTube: “qkP6Tf79UrM”_ )

Nick couldn’t sleep that night again; whenever he dozed off he had nightmares about the explosion and start up from his sleep, sometimes even screaming. He turned around but there was only a blank spot beside him where Judy would normally sleep. Laying alone in their bed, surrounded only by the darkness and silence of the night, he felt as lonely as he didn’t for a very long time; not since his father died when he still was a little kit.

Sven and Evelin were sleeping in the guest room of Nick and Judy’s apartment. It was half past two in the morning when Sven suddenly woke up from a silent yell. He blinked a few times and realized that Evelin was sitting beside him, looking to the door.

“Hey, whiskers…” he said softly and put his paw on her arm. “Is everything okay?”

Evelin slowly shook her head. “I think this was the third time that Nick screamed in his sleep… I can even hear him sobbing now.”

Sven erected his ears and listened carefully, then nodded slowly. “I can’t imagine what it must be like to nearly lose your loved one, especially by something like a car bomb.” – he leaned over to his wife and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

After another minute listening to the quiet sobbing, Evelin turned around to Sven. “Maybe I should go and try to comfort him… I cannot sleep anyway while I hear him suffer like that.”

Sven smiled sleepy and nodded his head. “Okay, whiskers. But try to sleep a few more hours after that.”

Evelin smiled and gave him a kiss, then got off the bed and dressed one of Judy’s sweatpants and a pullover. She walked along the hallway and softly knocked on Nick’s bedroom door. The sobbing stopped immediately.

“Yes…?”

The rabbit slowly opened the door and saw Nick laying curled up on the large bed, his head and ears raised and looking in her direction.

“Hey, Nick…” Evelin said softly. “Is everything okay? We heard you screaming and sobbing for a while now…” – she walked up to the bed and squatted beside it to look him into his eyes. It was dark in the room, but some lights from the city outside the window illumed his face enough for her to recognize his desperate and sad expression.

“I-I’m sorry… I didn’t know you could…” he pointed to his own ears and dropped his gaze. “I will be quiet so you can sleep, Eve.”

“Nick, I’m not here to raise a complain. We are worried about you.” She put her paw on his arm and stroked it gently.

“You don’t have to…”  he muttered quietly.

“Dumb fox.” Evelin smiled softly, but Nick didn’t reply and just gazed into space. With a short sigh she stood up again. She walked around to the other side of the bed, climbed onto it and sat upright beside the fox, putting a pillow behind her head and leaned against the wall.

“What are you doing?” Nick turned around – “You don’t have to watch me; just go to sleep again…”

“Come here, Nick…” she patted with her paw on her crossed legs and smiled softly; Nick rolled over on his other side and slowly put his head onto her lap. The moment Evelin stroked over his head and shoulder he calmed down immediately.

“I’m so sorry, Eve. I…” Nick started, but the rabbit hushed him.

“Don’t, Nick. Everything is okay.”

After laying there for a while, Nick spoke quietly. “This is the first night without Judy since we are together.”

“You are missing her, that’s only natural.” Evelin whispered soothing.

“I have nightmares every time I close my eyes.” He whimpered quietly – “I try to rescue her, but I fail over and over again, killing her in the end with my efforts.”

“I guessed something like that.” Evelin stroked over his cheek. “But Nick, it’s only a dream. You did not kill her, Judy is alright.”

“Not for my sake. I killed her with my intervention but fate had some other plans for her.”

“If anything it was fortunes way to give you two a second chance. Judy would bet her life on you anytime again.”

“Perhaps this would be a mistake.”

“I don’t think so, and neither does Judy.” Evelin smiled and gave him a comforting kiss on his forehead.

It still took a while but eventually Nick fell asleep and breathed calmly. She was glad that she could comfort him enough to rest for a few hours. Eve continued to stroke his head and arm for a while until she finally fell asleep, too.

* * *

It was quarter past six in the morning when Nick woke up, only sleeping for about three hours; but that was more sleep than he had for the last days. Also he couldn’t remember if he dreamed anything. He got up slowly, carefully took Evelin by her legs and shoulders, and lay her down flat on the bed. She moved a little in her sleep and Nick tucked her in the blanket. It was a familiar and yet odd view; Evelin looked nearly the same as Judy except for a few dark spots around her eyes. Also she was wearing Judy’s clothes: Some sweatpants and a wide knit sweater made by their mother. Nick turned around to close the curtain, keeping the room dark at the rising of the sun, and left for a hot shower.

When Sven left the guestroom at half past seven, he found Nick sitting in the kitchen. He had made some waffles and set the table with self-made marmalade from Bunnyburrow, different types of tea in a small basket and fresh minced vegetables. The fox sat on a chair he had pulled in front of the window, a mug with coffee in his paws, looking out of the window into nothing.

“Good morning, Nick.”

Nick turned around like he was awaking from a daydream and smiled lightly. “Good morning, I made some breakfast for you.” – he got off the chair and walked to the counter, switching on an electric water jug. “You two are drinking tea, if I remember correctly?”

“Yes, thank you. But you shouldn’t have bothered to make us some breakfast.” Sven smiled and sat down at the table.

“It’s the least I could do after disturbing your well-deserved night’s rest.” He smiled a bit awry but Sven stopped him by a wave of his paw.

“Don’t mention it, Nick.” – the rabbit took a waffle and put some carrot marmalade on it. “You want to go to the hospital again, don’t you?” – Nick nodded slowly. “Stu and Bonnie are arriving at the station only in a few hours. Eve and I can collect them, we wanted to go to the city anyhow to buy something to wear during the funeral. We will come to the hospital afterwards.”

“You don’t have to accompany us to the funeral, you didn’t even know Reed…” Nick said and brought Sven the pitcher with the boiling water for his tea.

“He was a colleague of you, and as Judy said it’s the least we can do for him.”

“Thank you.” – Nick nodded slowly, then smiled somewhat – “For everything, you two are really a great support.”

“That’s what family is supposed to be.”

Nick smiled and walked to the bathroom. He came back with two suit bags on his arm. “We will meet at the hospital later. And tell Eve my thanks for last night.”

Sven nodded, replying his smile, and Nick left the house.

* * *

“Your waffles are slowly getting even better than Mom’s.” Judy winked at her fox who brought her some of the waffles for a second breakfast.

“Well, based on the fact it’s nearly the only thing I can cook, they better be good.” He smiled and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

“How did you sleep last night?”

Nick shrugged his shoulders. “Most of the time with closed eyes.”

“Dumb fox.”

“Sly Bunny.”

They both smiled and Judy ate another waffle. “I’m not taking the mickey, Nick. Could you sleep at least a few hours?”

“Maybe two… or three.”

“Better than nothing.” Judy sighed.

“Yeah… thanks to Eve.”

“Mh?”

“She spent the night in your bed and consoled me…”

Judy stopped chewing for a moment, cocked her head and grinned slyly. “Well well! You spent the night with my sister in my bed, mh? I bet she was a great consolation for you.”

The dumb look on Nick’s face was a sight for the gods and after a few seconds Judy broke out in laughter. She only stopped when her chest hurt, the two broken ribs would take a while to heal.

“Dumb bunny.” Nick muttered, but was smiling softly.

“Sorry, Nick. But you furnished me a fit occasion for this!” she wiped away some tears of joy and gave him an affectionate kiss.

“What about you, could you find some rest?” he stroked her paw.

“Not at first, but they gave me some drops to ease.” she smiled softly and stroked his cheek. “It was the first time since we had started dating that I didn’t spent the night with you. I found it difficult to sleep alone again.”

“Me too, carrots.” He gave her a kiss on the paw. “But…” he hesitated for a moment, looking into her eyes. “…it was odd to see a rabbit laying in your bed, looking nearly the same as you but being pregnant.”

Judy felt her ears getting hot and the heart monitor accelerated it’s beeping noticeable. “We are not…” she stumbled sheepishly, “…she has these dark spots…” Judy was gesturing nervously with her other paw in front of her face.

“I know, carrots. She has those little dark spots around her eyes, and your eye color is somewhat brighter.” Nick took her other paw with his’ and his smile was disarming. “But that’s not what I was talking about.”

“N-No?” Judy’s chest started to hurt again, but this time it wasn’t her ribs.

“We never really talked about it, and that’s mainly my fault, I know. I’m easily getting insecure and wasn’t sure if I would be a good father or not. I always persuaded myself, that we weren’t in a hurry. That there is still so much time left. And who knows if you even want own kits. But if I learned just a single thing from the last few days, it’s that we have to savor every moment because we don’t know what happens next.”

Judy sniveled with a smile. “I think, you would be a really great father, Nick.”

“Does that mean, you also want to have kits?” he winked and gave her a kiss on her paw.

“Oh holy carrots, yes! I didn’t even know that I want kits until Evelin got pregnant, but I never had the guts to talk with you about it! I first thought it is just my biological instinct, but when I thought I would never get another chance it became clear to me that it’s only because I love you! Oh, yes! I really want to have our own kits! With you!” it was like a large burden finally left her chest and shoulders and she hugged Nick tightly.

It knocked on the door and Doctor Harrington entered the room.

“Well, it seems as if you are already feeling better, Misses Hopps.”

“Misses Hopps-Wilde…” she smiled brightly, holding Nick’s paw.

“Of course.” The cougar smiled lightly. “I got the final results of your tests. Your x-ray is looking good so far, but it will take a while until the fracture has healed. I will prescribe you a light painkiller, but it is very important to rest. No heavy lifting or sports!”

Judy nodded slowly, then asked: “When can I go on-duty again?”

Doctor Harrington raised an eyebrow and turned to Nick, winking. “Is your little bunny always so impatient?”

“You have no idea…” the fox snickered and Judy punched him against his shoulder.

“Well, you will have to stay on sick leave for at least four weeks. Also after that I would only recommend limited duty, Misses Hopps-Wilde! We should make another x-ray then; do you have a family doctor?”

“Yes, Doctor Kathrin Alisson, she has her medical office in Sahara Square.”

“Ah, Doctor Alisson! I guess you are in good hands then.”, Harrington made a short note on her clinical record. “We also detected a hormonal imbalance and there are a few increased blood values. Nothing serious, but I will send Doctor Alisson those test results, too. She is specialized for the physiology of rabbits and can better assess if they are requiring treatment.”

Judy’s muzzle twitched a bit nervous and Nick crawled with his thumb over the back of her paw. She finally asked: “I already talked with the nurse that I want to go to the funeral of my colleague today. She promised to talk with you about it…”

Doctor Harrington nodded slowly. “My sincerest condolences.”

“Thank you.” Judy and Nick said.

“Well, as you can also rest at home and your other injuries are healing quite well, I don’t see any necessary to keep you in hospital any longer. I will arrange that a wheelchair is provided to you, at least for a few days. Especially standing outside for several hours today would be too straining.” He shook her paw, then Nick’s, and left the room.

“It seems, as if you don’t have to spend another night with my younger sister, foxtrot.” Judy grinned but Nick kissed her deeply.

“Don’t get me wrong, Evelin is great, but I would prefer you anytime.”, he winked.

“Hope so, sly fox.” Judy snickered.

* * *

Shortly after lunch it knocked on the door again. Nick was sitting with Judy on her bed and they were watching a slideshow of their wedding photos on his mobile. After a quick ‘Come in!’ four rabbits stormed the room, that suddenly didn’t seem as big as before.

“Mom! Dad!” Judy shouted and her parents quickly came to her bed to hug her.

“Jude the dude!” Stu was beaming. “I’m so glad you are okay!”

“I hope you are feeling better, too! Did Doctor Greenwood really allowed you to travel?” Judy winked and hugged her mother.

“Well, kind of…” Stu smiled.

“What your father means is, that he interpreted the doctors order to rest a few days as traveling to Zootopia, because it would be more stressful for him not to visit you.” Bonnie winked and nudged her husband with her elbow.

Nick and Sven snickered quietly while Judy and Evelin put on an indignant face.

Stu walked over to Nick and hugged him, too. “Good to see you, too. Are you okay? You look somewhat worn.”

“Yeah…” Nick rubbed his neck, “Didn’t slept very much.”

“Of course, my dear.” Bonnie hugged him, too, and then turned around to Judy again. “We brought you a basket with fresh vegetables and fruits, Sven brought them to your apartment already while we were shopping with Evelin.”

“You were already shopping?” Judy raised an eyebrow.

“Well, we didn’t know about the funeral and bought something more appropriate.” She smiled and gestured to her and Stu’s rather colorful clothes.

“You didn’t need to…” Judy began, but her mother interrupted her.

“We don’t have to do a lot of things, my dear, but we are doing them nevertheless. That’s what a family is supposed for.”

Nick glanced to Sven who winked at him. Stu sat down on a chair that Nick offered him and Bonnie sat on the edge of Judy’s bed.

“How are you, my dear? Do you have pains? Your fur definitely had seen better days…” she looked a bit worried over the spots where her daughter had been stitched.

“That will grow again, Mom.” Judy smiled softly. “And the doctor said I can be released from the hospital today. It’s only somewhat painful to breath because of my broken ribs, but they will also heal completely in a few weeks.”

“Green carrot, you really had a guardian angel watching over you.”

“More or less, without Officer Selah Reed I wouldn’t be so lucky.” Judy said with a sad expression.

“What even happened? In the news they said it was an assault against you?” Stu asked and Nick quietly left the room. Evelin and Judy exchanged a quick look, and when Judy started to tell her parents what happened, her sister quietly followed Nick.

“Hey, foxy, not so fast, please.”

Nick turned his head around and saw Evelin trying to catch up with him. “What is it Eve?”

When she reached him she smiled and linked her arm with him. “I’m coming with you.”

“I’m just going for a short walk, Eve…”

“Thought so.” – she started to walk slowly and Nick followed her with a sigh. “I can image that it is disturbing for you to tell the story what happened over and over again.”

“Yeah. I mean, I understand that they all want to know what happened, but it’s like someone is twisting the knife in the wound.”

They walked along the hallway and sat down in the waiting area.

“Maybe you should accompany Judy to the funeral without me.” Nick said out of a sudden, gazing to the floor.

“What are you talking about, Nick?” Evelin seemed annoyed.

“They will all put the blame on me for his dead. Without my intervention he could still be alive. But I was thinking that I was cleverer than all others and now he is dead and my wife survived. I don’t belong there today…”

“No one will blame you, Nick.” She put her paw on his arm.

“I do.”

“Maybe, but you’re a dumb fox.” – when he didn’t react, she added: “Oh, come on… that’s always working when Judy says it!” she nudged him with her elbow.

He turned his head with a vague smile and put his own paw on hers. “You mean it well, I know. Thank you…”

* * *

Nearly two hours later Nick had changed into his dress uniform and was helping Judy with hers. Sven drove with Evelin and her parents back to the apartment to change, too. They had agreed, that Nick would collect them there at half past two with a police rover – he already had cleared that with Bogo. While Nick was fastening up Judy’s jacket, he smiled softly.

“The last time I saw you in this dress uniform was at my graduation.”

“Seems like ages ago, doesn’t it?” she put her police cap under her arm and moved a black ribbon across her badge, polishing it a bit with her paw.

When Nick got the wheelchair, Judy pouted. “I don’t think that I will need that. I’m feeling okay.”

“But me no buts.” Nick shook his head. “It was one of Doctor Harrington’s conditions that you are allowed to go.”

Judy sighed and took place in the wheelchair. Nick put a kiss between her ears and smiled softly. “Thanks.” – he then shoved her out of the room, along the hallway and through the lobby. When they left the hospital, two Officers in dress uniform were already waiting for them with two police cars.

“I guess, I’m not allowed to drive, mh?” Judy winked.

“No, you have to trust my driving skills this time, sorry.”

“Is this why we have our own escort?”

“Ouch, you are hurting my feelings, carrots.”

They both smiled and while Judy was climbing onto the passenger seat, Nick put the wheelchair into the trunk.

“We are driving to our apartment first, to collect her family.” He said to one of the both Officers who nodded and entered their own car. Nick sat down on the driver seat of the first car; he hesitated just a short moment before turning the key, but even Judy noticed it, she didn’t say anything; she also had hold her breath for a second. It would just take some time to lose these apprehensions again.

* * *

Over a hundred ZPD officers in their blue dress uniform were standing still on the town cemetery, listening to Bogo who made a speech about Selah Reed, his merits and how he would be missed by them all. The next one was Fangmeyer who told about their common time at the academy and how they were partners for two years on patrol. Evelin had her head leaned against Sven’s shoulder and her husband hold her paw tight, trying to comfort her. Stu and Bonnie were equally holding paws, their ears snugged against the head. Judy sat in her wheelchair beside Nick whose face was a deadpan, staring dead ahead.

It was late afternoon and the sun began to set when the funeral finished. The fox guided all rabbits to the car, shoving Judy’s wheelchair. He first held the passenger door open for Judy, then the rear door for Evelin and Bonnie to climb in. When he was closing the door, Chief Bogo called on him.

“Wilde… just a word.”

He turned around and walked a few steps to the large cape buffalo.

“Sir.”

“How are you?”, Chief Bogo asked in a rather uncommon calm voice.

“Fine.”

The Chief slowly nodded to the car. “What about…?”

“It will take a while for both the physical and mental injuries.”

Bogo nodded, then he continued in a more official tone: “I got the final results of forensics regarding the bomb attack now.” – Nick just nodded – “It wasn’t your fault, Wilde, you made no mistake. The ignition mechanism was actually disarmed after cutting the purple wire. Cutting the grey one like suggested by Bale would have caused it to explode immediately. It’s actually your credit that not more Officers died on that day.”

Nick sighed with relief and lost most of his tension within seconds. “But… what caused the explosion then?” – his voice sounded still somewhat doubtfully.

“The binary explosive started to mix when the timer reached the last minute. After that it was an unstable composite like nitroglycerin, we could be lucky that it didn’t explode even earlier. It was another security mechanism we weren’t aware off, because we never could disarm the main-ignition before. You had a good nose for Bale and his motives and absolutely nothing to reproach yourself for. Internal affairs are already informed and I revoked your suspension. But I still want you to meet our health counselor on Monday and we will meet after that in my office.”

When Nick sat on the driver seat a few minutes later, he leaned backwards and breathed deeply.

“Everything okay, Nick?” Judy asked worried – “What did Chief Bogo said to you?”

With a bright smile Judy had not seen on Nick for days, the fox turned his head to her and also glanced to the back seat where four curious looking rabbits were sitting. “You were right the whole time, carrots: It really wasn’t my fault.”

* * *

Adrian Bale looked up from reading his book when he heard someone turning the key of his cell door. A large polar bear in a dark suite slowly entered the small cell of the pretrial detention center.

“And who are you, Mister Handsome? Since when can a police officer afford such an expensive yarn?” the hyena snickered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OK, no dead rabbit... did anybody really thought that I would do that?? :-o  
> Part 3 of the series actual began a lot darker than the previous parts. What is your opinion on this, are you happy how the story has evolved over time? Or is it too much angst now? I always try to hold the balance, but at the same time making the story interesting...
> 
> A final question: Are you happy how I'm naming the chapters? I always try to give no teaser with the headline already, but make it fit nonetheless. Do you actually read it? Or do you even decide to read a chapter based on it's naming?
> 
> Compared to other stories this one has only a rather small number of regular readers, and I'm trying to understand how to improve on this. If you have any suggestions I would be glad to hear them! :)


	3. Aftermath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Maybe you are right, Evelin, and I’m just too pessimistic because of those additional tests Doctor Alisson made.” Judy sighed with a smile. - “Additional tests?” Evelin frowned and Judy told her contrite about the yet non-specific blood and hormone tests results. - “I did a bit of research on the internet and there are quite a few autoimmune diseases. It could even be cancer, or…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>   
>    
> 

_“So much of what is best in us is bound up in our love of family, that it remains the measure of our stability because it measures our sense of loyalty.” –Haniel Long_

* * *

“So, what you are saying is, that although the ignition of the bomb was disarmed it had to explode either way, quasi a chemical spare ignition?” Sven tried to grasp what Nick had told them just a few minutes ago. After the funeral they drove to a small restaurant in Sahara Square to eat for dinner and after ordering their meals Nick had to tell them in detail what Bogo had said about the forensic report.

“More or less, yes.”

“So it wasn’t even possible to really disarm the bomb after this… what, fluids? … had started to mix?” Bonnie wasn’t sure if she could comprehend this.

“But cutting the wrong wire would have caused it to explode immediately, right?” Evelin smiled.

“Cutting the purple wire disabled both, the timer mechanism as well as the pressure sensor in the driver’s seat by disconnecting the current-carrying connection. The grey wire pulled the charge of a capacitor to zero, cutting it would have caused a voltage spike, sparking a small propellant within the …” Nick tried to explain but Judy put her paw over his mouth and smiled.

“Yes, Nick perceiving Bale’s lie gave me enough time to leave the car and survive the assault in the end.” she explained, put her arms around Nick’s neck and gave him a deep kiss. “I always knew that my trust in you was justified!”

“This calls for a celebration!” Stu smiled brightly and waved with his paw for a waiter, ordering some champagne for them, respectively another pie-plant-spritzer for Evelin.

When they finally raised their glasses, Stu said: “To Nick, our hero of the hour!”

Nick smiled embarrassed, “Thanks guys…”

“Yes, thank you foxtrot.” Judy leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. Evelin – sitting on Nick’s other side – leaned over to him likewise and gave him also a kiss on the other cheek at the same time.

“Thank you for saving my sister, foxy.” She giggled and – seeing his befuddled face – all others at the table started to laugh, too.

“Don’t worry, I’m not trying to kiss you.” Sven snickered.

“Me neither.” Stu chuckled and took another sip from his sparkling wine.

“I’m saving that for when we leave, honey.” Bonnie winked.

“You don’t really want to leave again as early as today, do you?” Nick asked.

“You could drive with us in our car tomorrow, you don’t have to take the train.” Sven suggested.

“But we didn’t even take something to change with us. And you are already sleeping in the guestroom.” Bonnie added for consideration.

“Well, we have a second guest room.” Nick suggested – “There is only a convertible sofa in it, not a bed, but for just one night it should be suffice.”

“It would be great to have you around for one more evening!” Judy smiled brightly, then added a bit shy: “Also… it might be the last time we have as much as two guestrooms available for you all to stay overnight.”

“Are you going to move again? Actually I like your current apartment.” Bonnie asked.

Judy glanced to Nick who rubbed his neck. “Well, no… but we plan to convert the rooms.”

Evelin’s muzzle began to twitch furiously and she exchanged some suggestive looks with Judy.

“Did we inspire you with our own renovation plans?” Stu chuckled – “I would suggest a small library, maybe even a fake fireplace. Or what about a hobby room?” he took another sip from his champagne.

“I don’t think so…” Evelin started to grin slyly, still looking to Judy who started to twitch with her muzzle now on her part, too. “Really, sis? No kidding?”, her grin grew even wider while the other rabbits began to look somewhat confused.

“Well…” Judy grinned a bit embarrassed and put her paw onto Nick’s. The fox interlaced his fingers with hers and chuckled, giving his wife a quick kiss.

It took a few more seconds, then Bonnie suddenly said with her paws thrown over her mouth: “Sweet cheese and crackers!”

Stu looked even more confused now, looking from Judy to Bonnie and vice versa; Sven on the other side started to comprehend what was going on, too, and smiled widely.

“Would someone be gracious enough to explain what you are all talking about?” Judy’s father finally said impatiently.

“Judy and I had quite an extensive talk today, and we came to the decision to… I mean that we want to… um…” Nick rubbed a bit sheepish his neck again. “that… err…” – with five rabbits having their eyes glued on him he was unable to articulate properly.

“We want to try to have children together.” Judy quickly finished the sentence and bite on her lower lip with a shy grin.

Stu started to choke on his champagne and Sven slapped him on his back while Bonnie jumped off her chair, ran around the table and hugged Judy tightly while screaming happily.

“Ouch! Mom, please! My chest!” Judy’s face was twisted with pain but she smiled nevertheless while her mother apologized several times. Evelin got off her chair, too, after hugging Nick firmly – now putting her arms around Judy’s neck and giving her a kiss on the cheek.

“About time that you both reasoned that out!” she snickered.

Next one hugging Judy was her father, then Sven – and Nick was getting his kisses from Bonnie after all, too. When Stu was finally hugging Nick, he even got a kiss from the older rabbit resulting in quite some laugher by all others.

“Who got the pizza fungi?” a waiter brought their dinner and they all sat down again.

“Wow, you two really know how to send your parents onto an emotional rollercoaster!” Bonnie giggled while trying her lasagna.

“Let me get this right Jude…” Stu started, poking in his eggplant-casserole – “…you are not pregnant, are you? Do you two want to adopt?”

“Dad!” Evelin urged him.

“It’s okay, Eve. I guessed that this topic would prompt questions.” Judy smiled but still seemed a bit uneasy. She shared a big pizza together with Nick, who was cutting it into pieces for them both.

“Don’t get your father wrong, darling.” Bonnie smiled – “We knew a few bunnies having kits with hares, but we have absolutely no idea if this is possible between completely different species. We are just curious, but would love adopted children just as much!”

Judy was glancing to Nick, who was really concentrating on still cutting the pizza like he was doing some kind of surgery. Maybe it was a somewhat embarrassing topic for her, but based on his palpitation of the heart, discussing some conception details with five rabbits – including the parents of his wife – was a bit too much for the fox.

“Well, it’s not impossible for us to have biological kits according to our doctor…” Judy said, nibbling on a slice of pizza.

“Oh!” Stu blurted out.

“That’s some great news, darling!” Bonnie beamed.

“Well, we will have to try it with …” – Judy coughed slightly – “…with in vitro fertilization. It’s usually not working out by natural conception because of our different… physiology.” She would have sworn that her head and ears had the same color as Nick’s fur by this time.

Stu and Bonnie exchanged some looks, then he said with a proud smile: “It doesn’t matter how, we will love any grandchildren!

“Yes, honey, we were way to inquisitive! We are just so happy for you!” Bonnie added and looked dreamy.

“Thanks Mom, thanks Dad.” Judy smiled pleased.

Picking another forkful of her salad Evelin winked: “I don’t care about the ‘how’, I’m way more interested in the ‘when’!”

Judy snickered: “We will see, sis. We made a first appointment with Doctor Alisson tomorrow afternoon for a counselling.”

“I will order another round of champagne to celebrate this.”, Stu snickered but was restrained by his wife.

“I think we all had already enough champagne, darling.” She winked and gave him a kiss on his cheek.

* * *

( _YouTube: “w-39b_MiZn8”_ )

It was nearly midnight when Judy laid on her bed in a fetal curl. Nick was laying behind her, petting her different stitched spots and bend forward to kiss her softly on her shoulder and back.

“It was a nice funeral, wasn’t it?” Judy spoke silently.

“Yes… Bogo and Fangmeyer hold poignantly speeches.” Nick replied quietly, then after a few seconds: “I hardly knew Reed, never had worked with him; just met him a few times in the Hollow Bar with other colleagues.”

“Me neither.”

Nick stroked carefully over Judy’s arm, and after a while he said: “I can’t get those bagpipes out of my head…”

The rabbit took his paw around her body and kissed it. “Yeah, they are really cutting.” She sighed deeply but winced a bit.

“Do you have pains, carrots?” he whispered while stroking over her head and ears.

Judy nodded slightly, “Yes, a bit. But it’s okay when I’m laying down.” – she carefully turned around on her other side, now facing Nick smiling. “Or when I’m with you.” It was dark in the room, but a few lights from outside the window illumed his face just enough for her to see him. With her paw she stroked over his face and smiled. “It feels good to be together with you in our bed again.”

Nick snuggled his head and shoulder against her paw and closed sighing his eyes. “I missed you, carrots.”

“We were together the whole day.” She snickered and hold her arms in his direction. “Come here, foxtrot.” He smiled and nestled at her side, Judy putting her arms around him. “I missed you, too.”

Nick burrowed his snout into her fur, breathing deeply and letting her scent run through his nose. “I nearly have forgotten how good you are smelling.” He whispered and kissed her shoulder and neck.

“After just one day?” she grinned and replied his kiss.

“In the hospital everything smells like sanitizer and the days before we were constantly working and were never alone for long. And don’t even ask about the one and a half week at the burrow, so many different scents…!” he smiled and took another sniff.

Judy giggled, “Stop that, foxy! That’s tickling!”

Nick pulled back his head and looked at her with raised eyebrows. “Evelin is calling me ‘foxy’, you never did…”

“Maybe it’s pleasing me.” She grinned – “Or maybe I got an itsy-bitsy bit of jealous when she said it after kissing you, and you liked it.”

Nick put on his sly grin, “Who wouldn’t like it to be kissed by even two wonderfully beautiful, _cute_ bunnies?”

She punched him on his arm: “That’s for pleasing a kiss by another bunny!” – then giving him a deep kiss, caressing his cheek – “And that’s for calling me beautiful.” – Nick smiled, then got another punch on his arm – “And that’s for calling me cute!”

“Ouch…” he snickered. “Worth it every time.”, giving her an endearing kiss.

“Dumb fox.” She giggled and replied his kiss.

“Cute bunny.” – he caught her little fist this time and snuggled his body and tail around her body, giving her another kiss with a smile. “I love you, Judy.”

“I love you, Nick.” She closed her eyes, enjoying the fox’s warm body and listening to his heartbeat until she eventually dozed off.

* * *

The next morning, Nick and Judy woke up around half past nine after sleeping all through the night without waking up a single time. When the fox opened his eyes, he saw Judy smiling content at him.

“Good morning, slugabed.” She whispered and gave him a soft kiss.

He grinned wide, closed his eyes again and snuggled against her face. “Hey, cottontail.”

“Do you think you are awake enough for some breakfast?” she crawled his neck. “I’m up for some toast and a hot chocolate.”

Nick pouted, “Leaving our warm and cuddly bed?”

“We still have some guests, foxtrot.”

“You’re right…” he sighed and set upright, watching her sitting up slowly on the edge of the bed. When she breathed slowly and hesitated to get off the bed, Nick crouched beside her. “I’m getting your clothes for you, just sit and rest here for a moment.”

He got some beige-colored pants and her pink-white-checkered blouse from the bedroom closet, as well as some underwear, and brought it to Judy.

“How bad is the pain?” the fox asked worried.

“It’s bearable as long as I’m not breathing.” She replied with a little smile and let Nick help her to dress.

When she was finished, she walked to the sideboard and took one of the prescribed painkillers while Nick was dressing himself. When he was ready, Judy smiled and went ahead to the kitchen. Evelin, Sven and her parents were already sitting at the coffee table, all kinds of food laid out ready.

“Good morning, dormice!” her mother smiled and Evelin got off her chair.

“Ahh, finally! Hey sis, hey Nicky! I made fresh pancakes. Take a seat, they are ready in just a few minutes!” she hopped into the kitchen, switched on a stove plate and prepared a frying pan with some olive oil and stirred the dough.

“Did you two sleep well?” Stu asked, looking up from the newspaper.

“Yes, it was rather comfy to be in our own bed again.” Judy smiled.

“And you, Nick? Still got some nightmares?” Sven asked, but Nick seemed to not listen and read some article on the backside of Stu’s newspaper.

“Nick?” Judy asked, putting her paw on his arm.

“Mh?” he turned his head – “Sorry, I was distracted… Stu, could you lend me this paper for a moment?”

“Sure thing!” the old rabbit handed him the newspaper. “Saw something interesting?”

“It’s safe to say so…” Nick muttered while studying an article. “Adrian Bale committed suicide while waiting in the pretrial detention center for his relocation to the Meadowland Prison.”

“What?!” Judy nearly dropped her cup of hot chocolate and leaned over to him. Nick pointed onto a rather small article; Bale wasn’t officially connected in the public with the attacks of the last days. But he was well-known enough for his former crimes that his suicide was worth a short news on page twelve.

“He was found hanging by the corrections officers when they checked his cell on their patrol around 17 o’clock.” Nick read aloud.

“At least there are a hundred witnesses that saw you at the funeral.” Sven said with a wink.

Evelin brought a plate with a dozen freshly made pancakes. “Now put those depressing news away, Nick. Mom brought her self-made blueberry marmalade with her, so tuck in!”

“What do you think about a walk through the city park?” Judy asked her parents while rolling a pancake together.

“Oh, maybe the next time. We want to decamp at lunchtime, honey.” Bonnie said with a smile.

“Already? But it’s such a nice day, Mom…”

“We left your siblings alone at home, I hope the burrow is still standing!” Stu chuckled.

“But we still have one or two hours to spend.” Sven winked.

* * *

After a more or less tearful farewell, Judy and Nick made a walk through the city park by themselves. Now that Ramses as well as Bale were no longer any danger, the police officers put down for their custody were withdrawn again. They sat down on a park bench near the playground, watching a few little kits playing tag or seesawing together. There were a few rabbits and sheep, but also a little lion and two brown bears. It was pleasant to watch them playing together without any prejudices; those little kits were indifferent about their species, as long as their parents don’t teach them otherwise.

“No, you behave childishly!”

“No, YOU behave childishly!”

“No, YOU are!”

“No, you!”

“No, you are the childish one!”

Nick and Judy were turning their heads to a kudu and a gemsbok walking along the path, arguing about something, and the rabbit started to giggle.

“Hey, Bucky! Pronk!”, she waved in their direction and the two turned their head.

“Hey, look! It’s the little bunny cop! How are you Yoda?”

“She’s not Yoda! It’s Judas!”

“No, Yoda!”

“No, Judas!”

“No, …”

“Actually…” Judy intervened, “…it’s Judy!”

Nick snickered: “Happens to every bunny sometimes this does.”

Judy rolled her eyes, then turned to Bucky and Pronk again. “Still living at the Grand Pangolin Arms?”

“Yepp, the rent is even cheap enough for our skinflint Bucky!” Pronk patted the kudu on his shoulder.

“At least I’m not as messy as this oryx!” Bucky replied.

“I’m no messy!”

“Yes, you are!”

“No, I’m not!”

“Yes, you…”

“Wow…” Nick grinned to Judy who let her ears hang down and seemed to be on the edge. He had heard a few stories about the rabbit’s former neighbors, but the reality was surpassing these easily. “Why did you even had a TV, carrots? You had your own telenovela right on the other side of your wall!”

“Who’s _that_ ‘funny’ guy, bunny?” Bucky asked cocky.

“Her boyfriend of course!” Pronk answered knowingly.

“Nuts! At most her lover!”

“Boyfriend!”

“Lover!”

“Husband?” Nick suggested, and the kudu and gemsbok looked totally dumbfounded.

“Our little bunny cop is married…” Pronk started, and Bucky added:

“…with a predator-fox?”

“Wow, I would have never thought of you as being biased.” Judy raised her eyebrows and cocked her head.

“Biased?” Pronk looked irritated.

“That’s amazing!” Bucky cheered, followed by Pronk:

“Totally!”

“Thanks, guys.” Judy smiled brightly.

“You two should come visit us some day!” the gemsbok suggested eagerly.

“Yeah, do you swing?”

“Err… we will see about the visit.” Judy’s nose started to twitch.

“I’m a great swinger!” Nick winked – “But I prefer to dance the rumba, it’s more body dancing and less exhausting than swing.”

Bucky and Pronk seemed to be confused and Judy had to giggle.

“Sorry, guys. But we have an appointment in half an hour. It was nice to meet you again!” Judy waved smiling, and after a short farewell her former neighbors were proceeding to walk the path – already arguing about something again.

“That was interesting…” Nick grinned.

“Yes, reminded me of old times.”

“With your swinging neighbors? Never thought you would be into this.”

“W-what?! No! I had never with them…!”

“With them? But with others? Maybe rabbits?” Nick visible savored to tease her like this.

“N-no! I have never done such a thing!”

“But you would like to try it, wouldn’t you?”

“N-Nick! Stop it!” Judy’s inner ears were flushed into a darker red and her muzzle twitched nearly uncontrollably.

The fox snickered and gave her a kiss between the ears. “Let’s go, carrots. I have a little surprise for you before going to Doctor Alisson.”

Judy muttered something and slide off the bench. The fox put his arm around her shoulders and they walked to the nearest park exit. On their way to the doctor’s office, they made a short detour through the pedestrian zone, where a lot of shops and restaurants were located. They entered a large phone shop and the fox lead them to the mobiles.

“I thought, since you left your smartphone in the exploding car, I might as well buy you this new model you were admiring since its release.”

“Really?!” Judy clapped exited with her paws.

“I cannot let you stay at home the next weeks without a mobile, who should I chat with during working hours?”

“Maybe nobody? That’s why it’s called working hours!” she winked and looked at the different models and colors. When she saw a waterproof one in carrot-orange, she bit onto her lower lip. “What about this one?” she asked sheepishly.

Nick snickered, “I would have bet that you choose that color.”

Judy grinned and they went to the checkout, also getting a replacement SIM card at the service point. When they left the shop again, she gave Nick a deep kiss and beamed from ear to ear.

“Thank you, foxy… err… foxtrot.” She winked and Nick linked his arm with hers, snickering.

“Don’t exaggerate it, _Juju_.”

* * *

“Misses and Mister Hopps-Wilde, please?” a snow rabbit in a white coat called them up in the small waiting room of Doctor Alisson’s office. Nick and Judy got off their chair, and the assistant directed them into a room with a treatment couch, a bookshelf, a desk with chairs and a few medical charts at the wall. “Doctor Alisson will be there in a few minutes.” She smiled and closed the door behind them.

Nick and Judy each sat on a chair and waited a bit nervously, looking over the spine’s in the shelf and the charts. Judy eventually started to pound with her right foot on the floor, but calmed down again when Nick put his paw on her arm. She looked at him with an awry smile, but Nick seemed to be calm and smiled pleased; at least on the outside. Judy could hear his heart beating nearly as fast as hers.

“Misses Hopps-Wilde! Mister Hopps-Wilde! Nice to see you!” an older rabbit entered the office and shook their hands with a wide smile.

“Hello, Doctor Alisson!” Judy smiled and tried to sound as confident as possible.

“I’m really glad that you are doing well! After watching the news, I got a little nervous.”

“Well, thank you.” She smiled – “At least I’m alive.”

“Yes, I see. Doctor Harrington from the Zootopia-Plainsboro-Hospital already sent me your medical file. Quite a few bruises and slashes, a cerebral concussion, perforated lungs and two broken ribs.”, she studied the report from the clinic and nodded a few times. “Well, I would like to examine you when you are already here.” Doctor Alisson pointed to the treatment couch. “Do you want your husband to leave, or…?”

“No, Nick can stay with me, if that’s okay with you.” Judy smiled lightly and got off the chair.

“Of course! Okay, then please undress your shirt first and take place on the couch.”

Judy slowly unbuttoned her shirt, took it off and laid it folded onto her chair, then sat on the treatment couch, her arms crossed before her chest. Doctor Alisson took a close look at all stitched wounds. “Do you have any more on your lower back or legs?” she finally asked and when Judy nodded: “I would like to see those, too. Could you undo your pants and stand here?”

“Sure…” Judy opened her trousers and pulled them down to her ankles, then standing upright again, facing the wall.

Doctor Alisson squatted behind her and examined the other wounds. “Okay, you can pull up your pants again and sit down on the treatment couch.” – after Judy did as she was told, Doctor Alisson sounded her front and back with a stethoscope, listening for suspicious pulmonary noises. “I know it does hurt somewhat, but can you take a deep breath please?”

Judy’s face was twisted with pain when she took a few deep breathes, but didn’t complain.

“That’s enough, thank you!” the old rabbit put away the stethoscope and started to carefully palpate Judy’s chest. When she noticed that her patient was in pain, she stopped immediately and apologized. “Okay, you can dress again, Misses Hopps-Wilde. Do you take the prescribed pills?”

“Only when it’s really painful. I took one this morning.” Judy answered while Nick helped her with the shirt, then she sat on her chair beside him again.

“You can take up to four of them each day. There is no need for you to bear the pain. Your chest will hurt for another three to four weeks. And it will take up to three months until your ribs are healed completely.”

“But I don’t have to be certified unfit for work for the whole time?” Judy asked a little bit anxious.

The doctor smiled: “You are my first patient who wants to work earlier than necessary. Well, as long as you have still pains, you have to stay at home. No work or sport allowed, but going for a walk is okay as long as you don’t overdo it. After that you are only allowed to do office duty for at least one more month. And after that we will see…” she winked.

“Okay…” Judy sighed.

“Good! I also have a note from my assistant that you two want to talk about getting children?” – when Judy nodded sheepishly, Doctor Alisson smiled comforting. “Don’t worry, that is nothing to be ashamed of. I have a lot of couples that cannot get pregnant in a natural way.” She browsed through Judy’s medical file – “As I have noted here, we had already an initial talk about your choices. I think that we should try it with in vitro fertilization. You are both still young and even when you are different species there is a good chance to have healthy biological kits if it works.”

“But there is no guarantee, right?” Judy asked quietly – “I mean, that it works…” she fumbled for Nick’s paw and the fox hold her, stroking it’s back with his thumb.

“The technique has its limits, and there are a few risks, yes.” Doctor Alisson leaned back in her chair. “First of all, we cannot fertilize an egg with completely incompatible genetic material. What we do is inject the male spermatozoon directly into the female ovum. There is normally a natural protective covering around the ovum, preventing that the first sperm that comes along is fertilizing the egg. There is some kind of selection to find the perfect match with a 15-20 percent chance during normal intercourse. But that’s only valid for couples of the same species. This natural biological sphere is normally preventing a match for genetic material by different species, as they are never recognized as a ‘perfect match’. We circumvent this bio-chemical screening with the in vitro fertilization. The chances for success are therefore explicit higher, around 30-40 percent.”

“But doesn’t that result in a higher risk of disabilities? I guess there is a reason that the egg is … choosing the right sperm?” Nick asked somewhat doubtful.

“There is a very small chance, yes. But we are taking a lot of precautions, like a genome analysis, medical tests beforehand on both parents and a carefully secured preparation of both the ovum and the sperm.”

“You said that there is a 30 percent chance for success with this method?” Judy asked.

“That is with parents of the same species that could not get pregnant in a natural way for quite a while. With genetic material of different species, it’s somewhat lower, depending on the individual compatibility. And there are quite a few pairings of species that we are currently not able to couple, too. But I can assure you, that this is not the case with rabbits and foxes. Maybe it’s not yet commonplace, but I did some research and we have a few documented cases where the in vitro fertilization did work and resulted in perfectly healthy kits. I would give it a 10 percent chance of success.” She smiled encouraging.

“10 percent…” Judy repeated thoughtfully.

“More or less, yes.” Doctor Alisson nodded.

“Is there a risk for the mother? I mean…”, Nick rubbed his neck embarrassed, “…let alone the difference in size?”

Doctor Alisson grinned at him, then shook her head. “I can assure you, that this is not a problem. Of course there are a few risks, but there are with every pregnancy. The babies only get claws and teeth after birth and cannot hurt the mother from the inside, even with mixed species. And the size of them depends on the available space in the maternal body and size of the litter. It’s not like in those old science fiction movies where a prey, pregnant from a predator, will be slashed from the inside.” She winked and Nick smiled awry. – “Don’t worry, Mister Hopps-Wilde. You are neither the first who asked me this nor will you be the last one. It’s an old myth and rather popular. It was even one of the biggest fears in the last century and one reason why mixed predator-prey-couples were a taboo.”

“What is the exact process?” Judy asked.

The older rabbit turned around and took a brochure from the shelf. She browsed through it and laid it in front of Judy and Nick with a chart and a checklist.

“After a generic medical test of the two of you we create a spermiogram: Based on amount, agility, shape and possible infections of your ( _looking to Nick_ ) sperm cells we can recognize if and to which extend you are fertile. Then we administer a medication to you ( _looking to Judy_ ) to block the natural activity of your ovaries. You get hormones on a daily basis to let several ova maturate in parallel. This takes about two weeks after which we prepare them with other hormones for the ovulation to make them fertile. With a cannulate we are then extracting ten to thirteen ova and put them into a nutrient solution. Now we selectively prepare the spermatozoa and bring them together with the ova in vitro. We take up to six fertilized ovules before they can segment. They continue to mature for about three days until the embryos consist of eight cells. At this point we introduce them back into your uterus and have to wait if they finally nest.”

Judy and Nick tried to follow the explanations and when Doctor Alisson was finished they staid quiet for a while, studying the brochure and chart in front of them.

“You talked about up to six ovules.” Judy said eventually – “Does that mean, there will be six kits?”

“No, not necessary. As there is only a ten percent chance for the fertilized egg to finally nest in the uterus, not all of the introduced embryos will mature. In fact, we take six of them to have a better chance of at least one nesting. If it fails with all of them, we let another set of six ovules fertilize and repeat the procedure. It can be necessary to try it several times until one embryo is nested – but it’s also possible that several of them will nest in the first try. This is what I meant with the limitations...”

“So it’s also possible, that it’s not working at all.” Judy said quietly.

“I never thought of you as a glass-half-empty-bunny.” Doctor Alisson smiled encouraging. “As I already said, you are both young and healthy and I think there is a realistic chance for you to have biological kits together. You just have to be patient.”

Judy turned her head to Nick with a questioning look. The fox smiled softly, then said:

“It’s your body, Judy, and ultimately your decision. If you want to reconsider or talk with Evelin or someone else about it first, you should do it. The only thing I promise you is, that I will support you as much as I can, regardless how you will decide.” He gave her a small kiss.

“Try everything…” Judy smiled lovingly – “As long as we are together we can handle everything, right?”

“Absolutely!” Nick said and they shared another kiss, holding each other’s paws.

Doctor Alisson nodded with a happy smile. “I dearly wish you both good luck! As for the timeframe…” she checked Judy’s medical file again – “…we should not start with the essence procedure while you are still having pains and taking those pills. Your body is still stressed enough from the injuries.”

Judy nodded, “I understand.”

“Well, but we could already start with the generic medical tests and also make the spermiogram. Then we can start with the hormone therapy in maybe four or five weeks.” Doctor Alisson browsed through a few pages with laboratory test results, then starting to frown.

“Is… something wrong?” Judy asked nervously.

“I just saw that there were made a few hormone and blood tests during your stay at the hospital. Did you get any treatment for this?”

“Not as far as I know.” Judy said a bit uneasy – “Doctor Harrington said you could better interpret them regarding my common physiology.” Judy waited for the old rabbit studying the test results carefully.

“Anything worrying, doctor?” Nick asked somewhat alarmed.

“Not necessary. There are a few uncommon hormonal fluctuations. When was the last time you were in heat?” Doctor Alisson asked the rabbit.

“The last wave started on the day of our wedding…” Judy counted the days in her head. “Thirteen days ago, and it lasted three or four days… as usual.”

“So you are due sometime next week, correct?”

Judy nodded and the Doctor put the papers aside. “Your hemogram also shows some low values for some vitamins. Nothing to worry about at the moment, but I want to make some further tests.” She called her assistant over the intercom, then turned back to Judy. “I need to take another blood sample from you and also a urine sample… if that’s possible?”

Judy pressed Nick’s paw nervously but nodded slowly. When the snow rabbit knocked and entered the room, Doctor Alisson ordered her to get a needle and a few specific laboratory test tubes as well as a urine sampling cup.

“Okay, would you please roll up your left sleeves…” the rabbit said to Judy and started to search her arm for a vein. When the assistant returned, she started to disinfect the arm, punctured a clearly visible vein and filled five test tubes with blood. After finishing, she pressed a small pad onto Judy’s arm. “Just hold that for a few minutes until it stopped bleeding.” Doctor Alisson put the urine sampling cup on her desk. “Afterwards you can go to the restroom… we will call you when we have your results. And my assistant is arranging an appointment for your medical tests and the spermiogram in the upcoming week, Mister Hopps-Wilde.”

“Thank you… can we take this brochure with us?” Judy asked, pointing to the brochure with information about the in vitro fertilization.

“Yes, of course. And if you still have any questions, you can call us anytime and make another consulting appointment.” Doctor Alisson smiled and shook hands with both Judy and Nick, then left them alone in the room.

Judy didn’t say anything but hold the pad, watching it. When Nick stroked carefully with his paw over her cheek, she sniveled quietly.

“Hey… carrots… what’s the matter?” he got off his chair and squatted in front of her.

“Who knows? Additional medical tests are never a positive sign, are they?” she shrugged, and when Nick pulled her face towards his’ with his paw, she looked sadly at him. “Something is wrong; I can sense it…”

“You are going overboard with those extra tests, Judy. You were blown up by a car bomb only three days ago. It’s natural that your body is still stressed and needs some rest.”

“Do you think so?”

“Definitely.” He smiled and gave her a sweet little kiss. “Let me take a quick look at your arm…” Nick lifted the pad carefully but no blood was visible. He feigned a pouting: “Aww… no more bleeding for me to taste.”

“Dumb fox!” she punched him against the shoulder but eventually smiled again.

He snickered and straightened up again. “While you are at the restroom, I will make an appointment for my own tests. We will meet at the reception, okay?”

Judy got off her chair, took the sampling cup and gave him a quick kiss. “Okay, foxtrot.”

* * *

“Aww, got a phone again, sis?” Evelin smiled when Judy called her in the evening via muzzletime.

“Yep, a gift from Nick. It’s even the brand new pawphone with a carrot-colored aluminum shell – and it’s waterproof!” Judy sat on her bed alone, leaning against the back wall, and grinned from ear to ear.

“Wow, maybe I should let someone blow me up, too!” Eve snickered – “So the next time you are calling you are showering?” she winked.

“I thought of something less compromising, like photos while in the swimming pool.” Judy giggled.

“At the Mystic Springs Oasis?”

“Eve!” Judy looked shocked. “What’s the matter with all of you today?”

“Why? Did _somebody_ else suggest some juicier photos, too?” Evelin laughed amused about her sister being a little bit prude.

“Nah, not really…” Judy outstretched her tongue.

“Not _really_?! Spill!” Evelin asked curiously and Judy told her about their encounter with her two former neighbors in the city park. “Wait…” Eve furrowed one brow – “Aren’t those two not a married couple?”

“I think so?”

“So they are queer as a football bat?”

“Yeah? So what?”

“Maybe they were more interested in your fluffy foxy than in you, thought about it?” Evelin snickered when Judy replied her look dumbfounded. “Oh, you are really some completely innocent, cute little bunny!” she laughed.

“I’m not!” Judy pouted.

“You are!”

“I’m not!”

“You are!”

“I’m… gosh, we are acting like Pronk and Bucky already!” Judy giggled.

“I don’t think so, there would be more hot and steamy sex involved otherwise…” Evelin licked lasciviously over her lips.

“E-Eve!!” Judy stammered.

“I already spent a night with your foxy in your bed, just let me know if you want to join up with us the next time.” She winked naughty and eventually burst into laughter when her sis couldn’t even answer anymore and had put her paw over the mouth wide-eyed.

“You should replace your phone, sis. Your camera records way too many red hues.” Evelin suggested after calming down a bit, still giggling. “Speaking of sexual intercourse… how was your medical appointment?”

“Believe me, the whole procedure has nothing to do with sex or romance…” Judy rolled her eyes and began to explain what Doctor Alisson had told them about the mixed-species-reproduction and in vitro fertilization.

After she had finished, Evelin thought about it for a minute. “Sounds like a rather time-consuming and stressful procedure. I would have guessed that there is a better chance of success, but even only about 30 percent with same-species-couples?” – Judy just nodded slowly – “Hey, sis! Never say die. They all told you it would be impossible for a rabbit to be a cop, but you made it. There were doubters that didn’t believe in a rabbit-fox-relationship that lasts, but you are even married by now. And finally a car bomb that couldn’t be disarmed and should have killed you, but here you are!” Evelin smiled encouraging.

“Maybe, but this time it’s different. We are talking about biology and our different physiology, that’s nothing one can put away with hard work for example.” Judy looked somewhat dispirited.

Evelin looked thoughtfully: “I remember some video where someone was talking about the fact, that animals have evolved over time and anyone can be anything.” She winked and Judy smiled lightly – “I guess, that’s also true for a bunny getting kits with a fox – especially when we are talking about you little overachiever.”

“Thanks, maybe you are right and I’m just too pessimistic because of those additional tests Doctor Alisson made.” Judy sighed with a smile.

“Additional tests?” Evelin frowned and Judy told her contrite about the yet non-specific blood and hormone tests results. “That doesn’t has to mean anything, Juju.” Eve reassured her when she had finished.

“I know.” Judy sighed. “But I did a bit of research on the internet and there are quite a few autoimmune diseases. It could even be cancer, or…”

“Stop it!” Evelin said vigorously – “You could enter the symptoms of a simple cold into the internet and it would diagnose you with cancer! Don’t be ridiculous, Juju!”

Judy started to look even more uneasy – “I… didn’t told you something else… actually I didn’t tell it anybody until now.” – Evelin looked curious but just waited for her sister to continue – “I wasn’t feeling all too well even before the assault… getting dizzy a few times, vomited even after eating near to nothing, fatigue, …”

“Sounds like pregnancy…” Evelin muttered, thinking about her own little problems, then somewhat angry: “Why didn’t you tell anyone?!”

“Because I was scared!” Judy sniveled – “And then I thought when I was in hospital, that the doctors would just find something if I’m really ill; and when they didn’t I was relieved and persuaded myself that it was nothing, maybe just a cold. But now there are those additional tests…”

“Oh, Juju…” Evelin sighed and looked sympathetic. “You should never have tried to cope with all of this alone. You have an affectionate husband, a loving best friend – that’s me by the way – and a caring family that will support and help you to face out everything.”

“I know.” Judy smiled softly. “But I didn’t want to bother you…”

“For crying out loud! Leave us free to decide that by ourselves, okay? Maybe we want to be bothered!” Eve smiled.

“Okay, next time…” the rabbit-cop sighed.

“Promised?”

“Scouts honor.” Judy put two fingers in the air and smiled.

* * *

On Sunday, Nick and Judy spent most of the day together at home. Now that Judy had a new phone she was overwhelmed with old texts and voice messages of the last few days; at first she started to read them all and even listen to the messages. But she got just too emotional with the more and more anxious ones and they eventually deleted the remaining messages unread. The rest of the day they spend relaxing on the couch, listening to some music or talking about the pros and cons of the in vitro fertilization. Judy had already decided to give it a shot, and Nick was more than happy with the decision, but the rabbit was still somewhat uneasy about the risks and relatively small chances of success. In the afternoon, Martha Wilde made a surprise visit and brought some home-made marble cake with her. When the couple told Nick’s mother about their decision to have own children, Martha was overwhelmed with joy and nearly crushed them with hugs – at least Nick, being more carefully with Judy and her injuries. It was already evening when the vixen left again and after watching some TV, both officers decided to go to bed early – Nick had his appointment with the Health Counselor of the ZPD the next day on Monday at 11 o’clock.

The next morning, they were sitting together at the breakfast table at half past eight. Nick had not slept too well this night again and laid awake beside Judy most of it, gazing at the ceiling or watching Judy sleeping.

“You are rather quiet today, foxtrot.” Judy took a sip from her hot chocolate while watching Nick nibbling on the same slice of toast for nearly ten minutes.

Nick smiled slightly, putting down the toast and pouring his third cup of coffee. “Just a bit tired, carrots.”

“Did you had nightmares again?”

Nick shook slowly his head. “You cannot have nightmares if you cannot fall asleep in the first place.”

“You also cannot stay awake until you collapse from fatigue.” Judy looked a bit worried.

“I know, carrots.” He took a sip from the still steaming coffee and grimaced. “But it’s not only the nightmares, I’m worried about you.”

“I knew it… I should not have told you about those old symptoms.” Judy sighed.

“That’s not an option, Judy. You can always talk with me about everything!”

“I know that…” she smiled softly and put her paw on his’.

“Just don’t try to cope with everything on your own, okay? United we stand, united we fall.”

“Bad paws forever?” Judy winked.

“Hey, that was a great movie!” Nick snickered. “But seriously, I really mean it…”

“Okay, no more secrecies, foxtrot.” She got off her chair and hugged Nick, giving him a lovingly kiss.

They both finished their breakfast and decided to go together to the precinct by foot; it was about a half-an-hour walk and Judy sat into a small café – she didn’t want to meet all her colleagues just yet after the funeral – while Nick entered the police building at quarter to eleven. The Medical Health Counselor had his office on the second floor and after taking a deep breath the fox knocked on the door.

“Come in!” someone said behind the door and Nick entered the small office. It had a few plants in it, a desk with two chairs, two small sofas and some bookshelves. Also the windows were directing the main plaza in front of the building with a glorious view. Behind the desk sat a female, black panther who was working on her PC. When Nick entered the room, she raised her head and smiled friendly.

“Officer Wilde! Or do you prefer Officer Hopps-Wilde now?” she walked around her desk and shook his hand.

“On duty it’s easier to go with Officer Wilde, Ma’am.”

“Please, call me Samantha; or Doctor Carter if you prefer it more official. But this is neither an interrogation nor are you accused of something. We are just talking here together as openly as possible. Please, take a seat…”

“And you are writing a report about it for Chief Bogo. Or do you call that already paranoid, Doctor Carter?” Nick winked and sat down on one of the two sofas, the counselor taking place towards him on the other one and smiled.

“Yes, I’m writing a generic report about our talk, sometimes with a recommendation. But what we are talking about is confidential nevertheless and no one outside of this room is going to hear it.”

“Well, I love my job, I’m trusting my partner and I don’t have an urge to go on the rampage because of what happened to Officer Reed.”

“You were accused of being responsible for his dead and suspended for several days?”

“There was an investigation by the internal affairs department, yes.”

“Didn’t you think that it applied to you?”

“What do you want to hear? Yeah, I was blamed for accidentally killing one colleague and nearly even a second one…”

“Your own partner, Officer Judy Hopps, survived the assault only by a narrow margin.”

“She was in hospital for several days and will be on sick leave for at least another month, yes.”

“Well, she is not only your partner on the force, right? You two are having also a romantic relationship for nearly eight months and married just a few weeks ago.”

Nick was starting to get impatient. “We never made our relationship a secret and talked with Chief Bogo about it – he said that he has no problem with it as long as we are still trusting each other on duty and keep professional at work.”

“Talking about keeping professional… Chief Bogo had to keep you from entering a danger zone because you wanted to reach Officer Hopps in her car.”

“I just wanted to be with her and support her!” Nick crossed his arms in front of his body.

“Disregarding all ZPD regulations.”

“I couldn’t think straight back then! My partner was sitting on a bomb and all that I could think of was to save her somehow!”

“You thought you would be better at this than the specialized bomb squad that was already working on-site? Despite he knew the blueprints and that the bomb was nearly impossible to disarm, Officer Reed was risking his life to save your partner, right?”

“Yes, but…”

“And neither Officer Reed nor the executive detective of the case, Officer Fangmeyer, cancelled the rescue operation; even when there was only a 50 percent chance to still disarm the charge. Even when there were only seconds left and Officer Reed knew there would be not enough time for him to leave the danger area timely. Still you intervened without being an official part of the bomb squad and gave Officer Reed orders on the microphone.”

“Yes! But…”

“You even disobeyed the judgement of the department chief of the criminal behavior unit, Officer Marki, who agreed with Officer Fangmeyer to follow Adrian Bale’s support.”

“Damn it! It wasn’t my fault that the bomb exploded! I penetrated Bale’s mind and tried to prevent the explosion! There was no time left to explain my conclusions or to obey all those rules!” Nick nearly shouted, maybe also because the black panther was still completely calm.

“Ah… you made an impromptu psychological profile based on a ten years old interrogation report you had read a while ago, objected to two skilled superiors and risked the life of two ZPD officers…”

“I saved J… Officer Hopps with my intervention! I swear to god I wish I could have saved Officer Reeds life, too, but I couldn’t!”

“You let him die and rescued your partner instead…”

“It was not my decision to sacrifice his life for her! I thought I could rescue them both and I would have switched places with Officer Reed anytime to achieve this!”

“You believe it was your job to save your partner, not his’.”

“Yes!”

“That you should have been killed that day, not Officer Reed, an old friend of your friend Larry Fangmeyer…”

“Yes! I...” – Nick’s already shakily voice was cracking, being on the verge of tearing up. He put his paw over his snout and looked away. “…oh my.”

Doctor Carter smiled and her voice was still calm when she spoke again after a while: “You suffered a very traumatic experience, Mister Wilde. You blame yourself for Officer Reeds dead because he saved the one person who is meaning everything for you – it’s called the guilt of the survivors.”

“I’m Judy’s partner, I should have saved her. He could still be alive if I…” Nick muttered quietly but stopped eventually.

“If you what… would have cut the wire yourself?” – the panther was leaning forward – “You were the only one who had the idea to involve Bale into the disarming. It was your knowledge and fast perception that enabled you to unmask his lie, nobody else had those interrogation reports memorized or noticed his lust for blood. You had the courage to talk against your superiors. Despite being under heavy pressure in this extreme situation, you remained level-headed – and succeeded. You saved not only your partner but also Officer Reed. The ignition of the charge was disarmed, only thanks to you. There was nothing more you could have done. It was Wooly Ramses who killed Officer Reed. And Reed always knew the risk. He did his job, and he loved it as much as you said you’re loving it. You should be proud of him – and you should be proud of yourself, too. You saved your partners live when you gave her enough time to leave the car. And Officer Reed saved her live, too, by shielding most of the shock wave and flying debris of the explosion from her. Don’t reduce his achievement by feeling guilty for it, Officer Wilde.”

The fox breathed deeply and sat quietly on the couch. After a while he seemed to be much calmer and finally said: “Maybe you could call me just Nick…”

The counselor smiled friendly and handed him her paw: “Hi, Nick. I’m Samantha.”

* * *

“Nick! Nihiiick!” Clawhauser was shouting and waved for him when the fox was walking across the foyer. He had a lot to think about after his talk with Doctor Samantha Carter, but Chief Bogo asked him to stop by at his office, too. Walking to the counter he greeted the cheetah with a slight smile.

“Hey, Ben.”

“Oh, Nick! Good to see you again! How are you? Is Judy doing well?”

“I’m fine and Judy is on sick leave for a few weeks to heal up her broken ribs. But she is okay, too.”

“That really was a shock when I heard the radio messages!”

“Yeah… well, the Chief wanted to talk with me… can you give him a call that I’m here?”

“Of course, just a second…” – and while talking on the intercom: “Chief Bogo? Officer Nicholas Wilde is here for you.”

The voice of the cape buffalo sounded tinny through the speaker: “I need a few more minutes, he can wait in the foyer.”

“You heard it yourself, Nick.” Clawhauser smiled, but Nick just nodded slightly. “Is everything alright?”

“I had an appointment with our Health Counselor today.”

“Oh… right, that’s mandatory for you as you were on-site when…” Benjamin hesitated eventually, and Nick just nodded.

“Yeah… well, I’m getting a glass of water from the coffee kitchen… see you later, Ben.”

“Bye, and greetings to Judy!!” Clawhauser cheered and waved good-bye to him.

While drinking the cold water, Nick’s phone signaled a new message from Judy:

 

> _Judy: “Got a call from Doctor Alisson’s office. They have my test results. :-o”_
> 
> _Nick: “What did they say?!”_
> 
> _Judy: “They were not allowed to say anything on the phone. :(((”_
> 
> _Judy: “I should come into the office even today if possible. I’m scared!!! :’(“_

Nick could feel a lump in his throat.

 

> _Nick: “Waiting for Bogo atm :/”_
> 
> _Nick: “I try to hurry & we go to the doctor’s office together, k?”_
> 
> _Judy: “K”_
> 
> _Nick: “Stay calm, I’m thinking of you! <3 :-*”_
> 
> _Judy: “Will try. Love U! <3”_
> 
> _Nick: “Love U2! <3”_

Nick started to pace nervously in the foyer, wishing Bogo could just postpone their talk for a day or two; his place was currently at Judy’s side. Impatiently he ran up the stairs to the second floor where Bogo’s office was, but his door was still closed. Maybe he should just knock?

“Wilde…” the Chief’s voice came from behind Nick, obviously he wasn’t in his office. Nick quickly turned around and saluted.

“Chief!”

Bogo walked past him and made a gesture with his hoof. “Follow me – and close the door behind you.”

Nick followed Bogo into his office, closed the door and waited for the Chief to offer him a seat. After sitting down, the cape buffalo leaned back in his chair.

“I suggest we can skip the part where I ask you how you are doing, and you answering with your common ‘fine’.” Chief Bogo began and Nick just nodded.

“I got the sick note from Officer Hopps’ doctor, she will be absent for at least four weeks. Please present her my best wishes for her recovery.”

“Of course, thank you, sir.”

“That brings us to another topic. I just had a talk with Doctor Carter. An official report of your talk is still pending, but I got her first impression and recommendation under reserve.”

“Sir?”

“She takes the view, that you are currently not recommended for field work, and you should meet again twice a week for initially four more sessions to talk about the past events. As you are currently without your partner anyway, you are on office duty until she gives you a clearance for regular service again.”

“But, Chief…!”

“That is not a punishment, Wilde. But I need all my officers to be up the mark, physically and psychically! Just take it slow…”

Nick nodded with a sigh. “Yes, Sir.”

“By the way, Detective Fangmeyer officially proposed you for a commendation, and I’m supporting his request. You really did some outstanding work under heavy pressure and difficult conditions. Be prepared for the mayor’s office to get in contact with you.”

“T-thank you…” Nick was flabbergasted and didn’t know what to say.

“Detective Marki was impressed by your work, too. He asked me to borrow you to his criminal behavior department for a few weeks to give you more practical work experience. I told him that I will talk with you about it, but as long as you are on office duty anyway I would recommend this as a new experience. I expect your decision until the end of this week.”

“Yes, Sir. Thank you.”

“Speaking of this week… you should still have quite some overtime. I would suggest you take a few more free days until returning to work. I guess your partner could need your support now. Just give me your answer regarding Detective Marki until Friday and take the rest of the week off. After I got the final report from Doctor Carter, she will get in touch with you to arrange your next appointments with her. Anymore questions?”

“Yes, regarding Adrian Bale. I read an article in the newspaper that he killed himself in prison? Does anybody know why?”

“His suicide is the official story for the press. Bale was actually murdered in his cell.”

“What?! But how? And by whom?”

“Forensics are still investigating, but according to a preliminary report of the coroner, he was strangled and after that his sheets were used as an improvised rope to give the impression of a suicide. Bale was still in solitary confinement and there was a beat by the corrections officers every hour, so we can narrow the attack between 16:20 and 17:10 o’clock. We checked the CCTV footage, but it is jammed for a timeframe of 20 minutes.” Bogo leaned forward with a serious look. “You are not investigating in this case, Wilde! You hear?”

“Yes, Sir.”

Bogo got off his chair and handed Nick his hoof. “Then I wish you a restful week and repeat my greetings and best wishes for Judy.” – did he even smile a bit?

Nick shook the buffalos hoof. “Thank you, Chief!”

* * *

After leaving the precinct, Nick walked to the small café where Judy was waiting for him. She waved when he entered the shop and the fox sat beside her on a small bench.

“Hey, carrots…” he gave her a nice little kiss and hugged her carefully. Then he turned his head and sniffed on the cup in front of her. “You’re drinking coffee? That’s rather uncommon for you.”

“Yea, I know.” She sighed – “The hot chocolate was simply too sweet and I couldn’t decide on a type of tea. So I just ordered a coffee, but it’s not my linking either. If you want to drink it…?” she suggested and smiled slightly.

“You are really scared about those tests, mh?” – Nick took a sip of the coffee and put his other paw around her shoulders. “Shall we get a Zuber taxi to Doctor Alisson’s office? Walking would take us at least half an hour and you already had to wait long enough for me.”

Judy thought about it for a moment, then shook her head. “I’m way too nervous right now and feeling like being brought to the slaughter. Walking there will calm me eventually somewhat.” She smiled a bit – “Also you can tell me what Chief Bogo wanted. Are you on duty again?”

“Not really and not yet...” – Nick got off the bench, as did Judy, and they left the café again. “But I should greet you from him and tell you to get well soon. Oh, and greetings from Benjamin of course, too!”

While they started to walk along the pavement with linked arms, Judy turned her head to Nick: “What do you mean with ‘not really’ and ‘not yet’?”

“I should take off the rest of the week, and starting next week I’m on office duty.”

“What? But why? I mean, staying with me at home for the rest of the week is great! But why are you on office duty? I thought those investigations against you were stopped!”

“Yea, they are. But … I got no clearance by Doctor Carter, our Health Counselor.” Nick sighed.

Judy raised her eyebrows. “What happened?” – Nick didn’t answer and the rabbit had to nudge him with her elbow. “Hey… what happened, foxtrot?”

Nick rubbed his neck, “We talked about what happened … and maybe I said a few things in the heat of the moment that… alarmed her.” – when Judy still looked questioning, he quietly started to tell her, what he had talked about with Doctor Carter.

When he finished, Judy stopped and took him by his both paws, looking him into his eyes. “Do you really believe that _you_ should have been killed that day, instead of Officer Reed?”

“No… I mean, not _really_ … it’s not like I have a death wish!”

Judy sighed sadly and hugged him gently. “I hope so, because I don’t know what I would do without you, Nick. You really have to stop feeling guilty for what happened. Doctor Carter is right: It was not your fault!”

“Yea… maybe… but don’t worry; I’m not gonna leave you anytime soon, Judy.” He smiled and gave her a kiss between the ears. They stand there for a few minutes, hugging each other, until Nick said eventually: “Should we move along? We are nearly at the medical office.”

“I know, but I don’t wanna let you go right now.” Judy sounded worried and Nick squatted in front of her to look her into the eyes same-leveled.

“Still scared of those results?” he put his paw on her cheek and stroke it softly.

“Uh-hu.” Judy nodded slowly with hanging ears.

Nick kissed her gently and smiled encouraging. “Whatever it is, we will handle it together.”

The rabbit sighed and after a few more seconds they finally continued their walk. When entering Doctor Alisson’s office, they had to sit down in the waiting room for a while because they had no appointment. Judy sat on Nick’s lap, leaning with her head against his shoulder, while the fox was crawling her arm to calm them both; he could feel how his bunny was trembling slightly.

“Misses and Mister Hopps-Wilde? Examination room two, please…” the same snow rabbit as Saturday called and directed them into a different office as the last time. There were a few more medical devices and it seemed like more an examination room than a consulting office. They sat down each on a chair, and impatiently waited for Doctor Alisson; but it took another ten minutes until the older rabbit entered the room, too.

“Misses and Mister Hopps-Wilde, nice to see you again! Sorry that I kept you waiting, today is quite a busy day.” she shook both their paws and sat down behind the desk. “How can I help you?”

Judy fumbled nervously with her paws on the edge of her desk. “I got a phone call from your assistant that my test results are back…”

“Ah, right, of course! Okay, just a moment, I have to take a look…” – the doctor logged in on her computer and entered Judy’s name into a search mask. After opening her medical file, she started to read for a while, then turned around to their both patients who were looking at her like a timid fawn. “How are you feeling, Misses Hopps-Wilde?”

“F-fine…?”

“How is your chest pain?”

“It’s bearable…” Judy said quietly.

Nick stammered and hold tight on Judy’s paw, “Is… is something wrong?”

“Well, we will have to change your medication; and should reconsider the in vitro …”

“What?! But why?” Judy interrupted her shocked.

“As I just wanted to say…” the older rabbit smiled softly – “The tests revealed a rather uncommon complication…”

Doctor Alisson got off her chair and handed Judy her paw.

“Congratulations, Misses Hopps-Wilde, you’re pregnant!”

( _YouTube: “J5P2-9YY7qU”_ )

Judy was shaking Doctor Alisson’s paw without realizing it, starring at her stunned, and with a slightly open mouth. Nick was taken aback, too, being hit between the eyes by the news.

“I guess, that came as a surprise…” the doctor chuckled somewhat and sat down again. “The first hormone test in the hospital was inconclusive because it was still too early and too generic, but together with your specific vitamin deficiency it was a possible indication for a pregnancy. I didn’t want to raise false hopes during your last appointment, you already had enough traumatic events last week; and it also could have been just a result of your injuries or an inadequate nutrition.”

“It’s…not? I mean… you’re sure?” Judy could hardly speak; her mouth was feeling dry as a desert.

“If you agree, we make an ultrasonography right now to be sure. But I was specifically searching for indicators with your second tests. The results are unambiguous, even when it’s a small miracle that you got pregnant with a natural conception. You said, you had your last heat cycle on the day of your wedding two weeks ago? That would perfectly match.” She winked.

“Your scent…” Nick was still stunned and could only speak hesitantly. “It was slightly different for a few days. I just assumed… I…” he couldn’t say anything else because Judy leaped from her chair onto his lap and throw her arms around his neck, starting to laugh happily. When Nick’s emotional stupor finally released, he joined in her laughing and kissed her affectionately.

Doctor Alisson seemed to be amazed: “You can really smell the hormone difference in her scent during a pregnancy? Your olfaction is really impressive!” she smiled and waited for the couple to calm down again.

Judy sat down on her own chair after a few minutes, weeping for joy. Nick also had some tears of joy in the corner of his eyes and could hardly stop grinning. Doctor Alisson handed them both some tissues: “I don’t expect any intricacies due to your broken ribs. But I will prescribe you some other painkillers that are well-tolerated, as well as some combined vitamin products to compensate your current deficiency. I would also like to admit you into our pregnancy-preparations-program that includes regular prematernity medical care as well as preparatory talks and courses.”

“Yes… of course…” Judy agreed, still grinning like a Cheshire cat.

“Okay, you will have to sign a form at the reception and my assistant will also hand you a few brochures with further details and tips.” Doctor Alison got off her chair and gestures toward the treatment couch, switching on a small computer on a mobile stand that had a trackball and two ultrasonic probes. “If you would undress your shirt and lay down right here, please…”

Judy unbuttoned her shirt with shaking paws and gave it to Nick, nervously laying down on the couch. The older rabbit took a special ultrasonic gel for fur-covered mammals out of a cupboard and put on some latex gloves. She dispensed some gel on Judy’s belly until her fur was soaked with it, then entering some variables into the mobile ultrasound unit and taking one of the probes. While watching the monitor closely, she moved the probe over Judy’s belly. It took her a while, and Judy was holding Nick’s paw nervously smiling; but eventually Doctor Alisson started to smile brightly and turned the monitor to the excited couple.

“Congratulations, you are becoming parents of two kits!”, the doctor said while marking two small beating hearts, that were merely some moving points on the monitor, with her trackball. Judy bite on her free paw and started to sob with a wide smile; Nick hold her other paw firmly in his’ and gave his cute bunny a kiss on her forehead, smiling himself from ear to ear.

Doctor Alisson removed the ultrasonic probe again and handed Judy a wet washcloth and a towel. Nick took them both and cleaned the fur of his exuberantly happy bunny, while the older rabbit was entering some more data into the small computer that were printed afterwards onto a picture of the ultrasound for the medical file: Judy’s full name, todays date and time, species of the mother and of the father, and the current progress ( _week 2 of 8 in total_ ). She printed a second copy of the image and put it into an envelope, handing it Judy who had just buttoned her shirt again.

“I’m so happy for you two!” the female doctor said smiling, sitting down behind her desk again. “Do you have any immediate questions?” – both Nick and Judy shook their heads, and Doctor Alisson nodded. “Then I would suggest that we meet again next week, you can make an appointment with my assistant.” She shook first Judy’s then Nick’s paw and escorted them to the front-desk. “Nadja, would you make a form ready for our pregnancy-preparations-program and let Misses Hopps-Wilde sign it. And gave them the brochures about rabbit pregnancies, mixed-species couples and the one with common tips during a pregnancy. We also need a new appointment for the beginning of next week.”

The snow rabbit smiled happily to the couple: “Congratulations, you two! Just a moment, please…”

Doctor Alisson waved them good-bye and while waiting for the assistant Nadja to finish their papers, Judy took out the envelope with the ultrasound picture. Her paws were still shaking and Nick had to help her to make a photo of it…

* * *

Evelin and Sven were having dinner together with the Hopps’ family in the main kitchen – nearly 90 rabbits eating some mixed salad and sandwiches in one room and exchanging the newest rumors and news about the rural life in Bunnyburrow, resulting in quite some noise level. When Evelin’s smartphone signaled an incoming message from Judy ( _the first five chimes of ‘Try Everything’ by Gazelle_ ) she was still giggling about a story Valentia had told. She opened the message and a mostly black image filled her screen; after watching it curiously for a few seconds in silence, she suddenly jumped off her chair and set up a cry with such a high pitched voice, that most of the other rabbits winced terrified, starring at Eve who was madly giggling and fidgeting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, yes, there were hints all over the last few chapters. But I guess Nick and Judy had just missed the forest for the trees. :)
> 
> And I'm neither an electric engineer, nor psychologist nor a physician - I just added a few technical details to embellish the story. Don't forget it's a fanfiction about Zootopia, not some professional journal. ;)
> 
> Hope you liked my little Christmas gift for Judy and Nick.  
> I wish all my readers (and especially commenters!) Happy Holidays and a few calm days! :)


	4. Peanuts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I fear my parents are organizing a parade right now.” Judy laughed with a wide grin.  
> “After being the first rabbit becoming a police officer and being the first rabbit marrying a fox, I would have bet you already got your own statue and holiday in the meantime.” Nick winked, “But a rabbit getting pregnant seems not so extraordinary to me. Or are you rated as such a lost cause?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>   
>    
> 

_“In a relationship the details are everything because they remind you – just when you need to be reminded the most – why you fell in love with someone in the first place.” ― Mike Gayle_

* * *

The pharmacist was entering the details of the prescription Nick gave him into his computer while Judy was sitting in a small waiting corner. Her phone hadn’t stopped ringing since she sent the ultrasound picture to Evelin and her parents, apparently all of her family were already informed and now wanted to congratulate. As touching as most of the calls and messages were, there were also some surprised ones. Well, Judy didn’t hold it against them – an hour earlier she feared that she wouldn’t experience another spring, and now she would be changing her own kits by then. She ended just another call, when Nick approached her with a smile and a small paper package.

“I guess you are the most current news in whole Bunnyburrow by now?”

“I fear my parents are organizing a parade right now.” Judy laughed with a wide grin.

“After being the first rabbit becoming a police officer and being the first rabbit marrying a fox, I would have bet you already got your own statue and holiday in the meantime.” Nick winked, “But a rabbit getting pregnant seems not so extraordinary to me. Or are you rated as such a lost cause?”

Judy punched him on his shoulder and grinned.

“Let’s see if you are still so cheeky when my parents figure out that you got her daughter preggers in their own burrow. You know, we are not only good in multiplying but in math generally.”

“It may be a long time ago, but I bet they once had a wedding night, too.” Nick snickered and gave her a quick kiss between the ears.

“And what about the night before the wedding, and after the wedding, and the day after that, and…”

“If you are trying to embarrass me, it’s not working, carrots.” Nick squatted in front of her. “Don’t get me wrong, but I love you to bits.” He grinned with his fangs visible, making Judy’s hackles raise. When her phone rang again, Judy nearly dropped it nervously.

“H-Hey, Clara! Yeah, thank you, sis! … Two kits! … Of course is Nick the father!!” she giggled and after linking her arm with Nick they left the pharmacy, still talking on the phone.

* * *

It was nearly half past nine in the evening when Judy could finally put the phone on the table without it ringing within seconds again. She let herself fall onto the couch and put her feet up, with a flat breathing and closing her eyes.

“Hey carrots…”, Nick was kneeling beside her and smiled softly when she opened her eyes again. He held a few pills in his paw and a glass of carrot juice in his other.

“What’s all of this?” she sighed, being used to mostly herbal only meds.

“This is the new one against your pain…”, he pointed to a small yellow one, “…and those two are vitamins and iron, like prescribed.

“Thanks”, Judy took the pills and swallowed them with a big gulp of the juice. Nick sat beside her on the couch, put her feet on his lap and started to massage them gently.

“How bad is your pain in the chest really, carrots?”

“It’s bearable, foxtrot. It just was a long day.”, she smiled softly and poked him with a toe. “That… changes a lot of things, don’t you think?”

“Well, yes, but we already decided that we want to try to get kits, didn’t we?” he smiled happily.

“We talked about it, yes. And there was a low probability that it will actually work. And we only wanted to start with the therapy in about a month at the earliest. But now we are suddenly thrown in at the deep end…”

“Wait a second, carrots. Did you fear I would back down at the very last moment?” Nick raised surprised his eyebrows.

“I…” Judy looked bashfully at her chest.

Nick’s smile changed into a shocked, finally a sad look. “You don’t really think that I would be a good father at all, do you?”

“W-what? Yes, I do!” Judy said hasty, but Nick just shrugged hurt and wanted to get off the couch. With a quick – and painful – movement, Judy turned around and leaped at his side, holding him back at his shoulder. “Nick! Please…”

Even when Judy tried to not turn a hair, Nick heard in her voice how much pain the last movement must have caused to her.

“Judy, be careful…” he put his paw on her shoulder and looked worried, but the rabbit just pushed his paw away and clung at his neck, sniveling quietly.

“That wasn’t what I meant, I swear! I’m afraid that _I_ will fail, not you!”

“You?” Nick starred at her unbelieving.

“I can recite the criminal code, Nick, and arrest a mammal five times my size if necessary. But the thought of having own kits is somewhat frightening to me. What if they got ill? Or they start crying and I don’t know what to do? What if…”

“Hey, hey… carrots…” Nick smiled again and kissed a tear away from the corner of her eye. “Don’t over exaggerate about this. Being a mother is something coming naturally to you when it’s time. And don’t forget about the most important thing…”

“That is?” she sniveled and wiped away another tear with her paw.

“I’m always there to support you.” He gave her a gentle kiss and smiled encouraging.

Judy smiled lightly and crawled over his cheek. “See, that is why you will be the greatest dad ever. You always know what to say to make others feel better and something special.”

“That’s only because of you.” He took her paw and kissed it. “You bring out the best in me.”

“Sorry, I really didn’t mean to hurt you, Nick.” She put her arms around his neck.

“Come here, carrots…” he put his arms around her shoulders and propped her back up; Judy closed her eyes and exhaled, her pain lessen slowly. “You have to be more careful!”

“That’s nothing, Nick.” She smiled at him. “It did hurt much more to see your face earlier and to fear that you would turn away.”

“Okay, enough apologies now.” Nick winked. “You bunnies are so emotional…”

“And it’s getting only worse during pregnancy.” Judy giggled and crawled over his chest, reaching out her head and kissing him lovingly.

When her phone rang again, she groaned. “Sweet cheese and crackers!”

Nick snickered and reached out for the phone, handing it to Judy who accepted the call without looking on the display.

“Yeah?”

“OH MY GOODNESS!!!” – Clawhauser’s voice was so loud she winced and had to hold the phone away from her ears. “I CANNOT BELIEVE THAT YOU TWO ARE GETTING KITS, THIS IS SOOOO SWEEEEEEEET!!!!”

“Thank you, Ben. Yeah, it really came as a surprise for us, too!” she rolled her eyes smiling while Nick giggled quietly.

“I ALWAYS KNEW YOU TWO ARE THE SWEETEST COUPLE EVER, BUT THAT IS JUST PUTTING THE CHERRY ON THE CAKE!!”

“Yeah, thanks… but Ben, could you be a little bit quieter? I have some headache and the phone always makes someone’s voice so much louder…”

“OH! Oh… of course! I’m just so excited!! I even wanted to come along to congratulate you personally, but wasn’t sure if you are even at home at the moment!” – Benjamin was considerably quieter now, but still loud enough for Nick to overhear him without the phone being on speakers.

“The phone is okay right now, Ben.” Judy hurried to assure him, then asked somewhat curious: “How do you even know about it already?”

“Oh, Clara had told me during our phone call! She was all aflutter about it!”

“You are talking with Clara on the phone?!” – that caught Judy by surprise; Clara was her only litter-sister and normally telling her everything, no matter how irrelevant it might be.

“Sure, we … “, he suddenly stopped talking and nothing but a short gulp was heard over the phone.

“I don’t wanna even know, Ben…” Judy tried to suppress a giggle. “Any chance you are not going to tell everyone at the precinct about my pregnancy, yet? I guess I should tell Chief Bogo first…”

“Oh! He already knows it! Sorry, Jude, but I couldn’t contain myself and had to send a group text to everyone!” they could hear how Clawhauser had put his paw above his mouth and inhaled excited. “Was that a mistake?”

Judy and Nick rolled their eyes simultaneously.

“It’s okay, Ben. I guess this was inevitable.” The rabbit sighed with a smile and Nick kissed her softly on the forehead, grinning from ear to ear.

“OH THIS IS JUST SOOOO CUTE!” the cheetah screamed ecstatic and even Nick winced this time. “DO YOU ALREADY HAVE NAMES???”

* * *

They were laying together in the hot and steamy water of their bathtub, the phone finally put into silent mode and relaxing for the first time that day. Judy was floating briefly below the water surface, her head resting on Nick’s chest with closed eyes and listening to his heartbeat with a dreamy smile.

“Your sister Clara and Clawhauser…?” Nick whispered out of a sudden and Judy began to giggle.

“Oh, don’t even get started! I had no idea, and I’m not sure if I want to know anything about that anyway!”

Nick chuckled, “If I’m correct, since you are married now she is the oldest Hopps’ daughter being single, isn’t she?”

Judy punched his leg, making the water splash around. “Nick! Behave yourself!”, but she had to giggle, too. “She had a girlfriend for nearly five years, but she broke up with Clara one and a half year ago. So it’s not what you are thinking about, they are supposedly only good friends!”

“I would subscribe that immediately if there wouldn’t be that little incident at our wedding. Wasn’t Clara one of your witnesses?”

“Sweet cheese and crackers!” Judy put her paw over her mouth and laughed, eventually wincing and holding her chest. Nick put his paw above hers and crawled her arm slowly.

“Be glad that you are on sick leave, can you imagine what I will have to bear next week?” Nick sighed playfully.

“Do I even want to know about all your manly rituals?” Judy grinned.

“I have no idea what you are talking about! That’s my first time having a pregnant girlfriend!”

“Oh, really? How do you even know, maybe there is a little Nick junior hustling his schoolmates you have no idea about.” She giggled when she realized Nick’s heartbeat going faster.

“Hey, that’s not fair! Foxes have a bad record, but we are really faithful regarding our partners. Also, there is no Nick junior … yet.” He winked – “And I’m never mentioning your ex-boyfriends, you jealous little bunny!”

“You know that I had no boyfriends in Bunnyburrow…” Judy muttered embarrassed.

“Oh, come on. Maybe no serious relationship, but someone to smooch and grope? What about prom night? I bet you were the queen!” he snickered.

“I missed the prom night because when I finally decided to go, everyone already had a partner and I didn’t want to be the only one going alone. You should read your wedding ring again. It was really no exaggeration when I said you were my first – and last one. I was some kind of a nerd, you know. Nothing too popular with the guys.” She snickered quietly.

“I bet, you were the cuties nerd ever… and they have no idea what they missed.” he kissed her between the ears.

“Evelin is always ragging me because I never dated another rabbit, but went to the Wilde-side on the first try.”

Nick groaned and let his head sank beneath the water surface for a few seconds. When he emerged again, he said playfully annoyed: “Such a lame joke out of your mouth… I hope your sense of humor isn’t heritable!”

“Who knows…” she stretched her arms above her head, cuddling the fox lovingly, and giggled. “But be assured that I don’t regret having waited for you.”

“How would you know? I always thought I would be the best of the top, but as it seems now you just have no other reference!” he nibbled on her ear with a grin.

“Sorry, foxtrot. You were just the first one unlucky enough to take my heart by storm.” She giggled and pedaled with her legs in the water. “And be careful with your tail, that’s tickling!”

“Oh…” he whispered quietly, “That is not my tail, sassy bunny…”

Judy panted for breath, biting on her lower lip, but her little claws grasped into his fur.

* * *

“I’m back, carrots!”, Nick opened the apartment door with two big paper bags on his arms. “They didn’t have the yogurt with fresh carrots this time, so I got you a small selection with different fruits. Oh, and guess which farmers carrots and potatoes got the award ‘Vegetable of the Month’ – again.” He snickered.

“If it would be anything different than the Hopps’ brand, I would be in surprise, foxtrot.” Judy laughed from the living room.

After bringing the groceries into the kitchen and putting them away, Nick walked over to the living room, where Judy was sitting at their couch table, bent forward over some kind of big book. He threw a grape into the air and caught it with his snout.

“Do you also like some fresh grapes?”, he offered her a small bowl with a bunch of green grapes.

“Yes, thank you!” she smiled and waved with her paw for Nick to sit beside her, closing the book in front of her. “Come here, Nick. I want to show you something…”

“Mh? What is it?” he put the bowl on the table and sat next to his rabbit, looking at the book in front of her. On the front was a big photo affixed of them, sitting under a tree on a small hill on the edge of the Rainforest District, leaning against each other and watching dreamy the distance and high buildings of the Sahara Square. Nick remembered this very moment, Evelin shoot the photo half a year ago during one of their visits shortly after they moved into the new apartment. Above the photo was written with a gold and silver gloss varnish marker: ‘ _Chronicles of a Relationship_ ’

Nick’s eyes widened and he stroke with his paw over the cover, then smiled slyly. “I hope this story has a happy end… mind, if I take a closer look at it?”

Judy snickered and shook her head, then kissed him lovingly on his cheek. “You put so much afford in your marriage proposal and our wedding, but I never had the opportunity to return the favor appropriately.”

“You said ‘ _Yes_ ’ when I asked you to marry me… that already was the greatest gift.” He smiled and leaned his head against hears.

“Maybe that also was a bit self-serving.” She grinned and crawled with her paw over his head and ears. Oh, how much she loved those small and pointed ears of his!

Nick snickered and opened the photo album. On the first double-sided page, there was a short profile of Judy on the left side: A photo of her as a child in her police costume and saluting, her full name, birthdate, species, gender, likes and dislikes, hobbies, and her favorite quote ‘ _Make the world a better place!_ ’; at the bottom was her paw print from her first child ID – on the right page was a similar profile for Nick (‘ _I promise to be brave, loyal, helpful, and trustworthy!_ ’), including his own paw print and a rare picture of him saluting in his boy scout uniform.

“Woah, where did you get this photo from? I didn’t even know that any copies still exist!”

“Your mother is wearing it in her purse and was kindly enough to let me copy and restore it.” Judy smiled happy when she noticed Nick’s touched facial expression.

The next few pages summarized Judy’s childhood in Bunnyburrow: A photo of her as a baby bunny right after birth, from her own litter, her first day in the kindergarten, a poorly drawn crayon picture made by her of her family with all of her 39 siblings at that time, helping her parents on the fields and sitting in their market stand handing a customer a small bag with carrots, playing in the crops, letting fly a kite together with a few siblings, … on six pages were the most cute moments and photos of Judy Hopps that Nick had ever saw, all together with small comments and headlines by her. Nick turned another page, expecting more photos of her, but on the next page was a photo of a young fox and a vixen, holding a cute little baby fox in their arms. He was thunderstruck from the insight what he saw. There were even more photos of him he had never see before: Playing with his mother, crawling over his father’s stomach or clinging at his tail, his first birthday cake with a single candle, him hiding behind some large potted plants in their old family home, … he browsed through the following six pages full of old, long forgotten childhood memories and had tears in his eyes.

“Your Mom sent me all those photos while we were staying at the burrow after our wedding. She kept them all those years and when I told her what I planned to create for you, she was more than eager to help me out…” Judy put her arm around Nick’s chest and crawled through his fur, comforting him with a wide smile.

“Oh, carrots…” Nick sobbed quietly after a while and tried to calm down.

Judy put her paw on his’ and helped him to turn another page. At the top was written: ‘ _There were throwbacks and sad moments, too…_ ’ – on the left side were photos of Judy with a broken arm when she was four, a scary and bleeding scratch wound on her cheek ( _with a poorly sketched fox head beside it_ ), a photo of her in a nice little dress standing alone with a sad face in their parents kitchen (‘ _Prom Night, first and last time I wanted to wear a dress!_ ’) and lastly a photo of her as a baby, together with Ralph and Clara – her litter siblings; but beside baby Judy was another small bunny, a small flower drew beside her. The comment below the photo was: ‘ _A gang of four for only 36 hours, until our little sister Flowers already left us behind in grief._ ’ – that was another bombshell for Nick, he had no idea that there was a fourth child in Judy’s litter and she had never talked about it before. She wasn’t talking right now, too, just cuddling with him and crawling his fur. The fox slowly put his arm around his little bunny and cradled her feelingly. His look was already browsing over the opposite page that contains what he had already assumed. There was a photo of his boy scout uniform thrown in a corner of his room, a picture of him at his ninth birthday in front of his cake but sitting alone with his parents at the table, their old family home with a ‘ _Sold_ ’ sign in front of it and at the bottom a picture of him and his mother in black clothes during his father’s funeral. As sad as those pictures were, they weren’t really hurting anymore, being a part of him for already such a long time. At the bottom was written with the silver marker: ‘ _…but even when they always accompany us, they did not negatively affect the mammal we grow up as in the long run but helped us forge our character._ ’

With a last look to the group photo of Judy’s litter, Nick slowly turned another page. ‘ _We lived our life…_ ’ was written on top of it, and beneath were mixed photos of Judy during her time at the High School and Police Academy, and Nick taking guitar lessons and finishing Public School. ‘ _And finally succeeded_ ’ was the next headline, together with photos of Judy’s graduation at the police academy and Nick selling pawsickles in front of his push cart with a sly grin – obviously secretly made by Finnick to blackmail him eventually.

Nick had to grin somewhat: “Not really a big accomplishment to sell pawsicles to hamsters, compared to your graduation.”

“You were quite satisfied back then, weren’t you? And as far as I remember you didn’t earn as little as now.” She nudged him with her elbow and Nick snickered, turning another page.

‘ _First met as opponents_ ’ was the next headline and Judy had made up a ‘ _Wanted_ ’ poster with Nick’s picture and ‘ _Fiscal evasion_ ’ written beneath it, and a photo of her posing in her uniform and with her drawn stun gun, grinning slyly. – ‘ _Confronted with prejudice_ ’ headed the next page, together with an affixed cut out news article showing Judy during the press conference and blaming predators eventually going savage again. Below that was the crinkled ‘Junior ZPD’ sticker that Nick had thrown away after the press conference; on the opposite page was the likewise crinkled application form for the police academy by Nick.

“You really kept those things all the while?” Nick raised his eyebrows in surprise and Judy gave him a soft kiss on his cheek.

“I knew that I made a big mistake the moment you walked out of that door and wanted something to remember you always… you had my recorder pen with your voice so those litter was all that was remaining.”

Nick smiled and rubbed his snout over her head while turning another page of the album.

‘ _Finally finished what we once started months ago_ ’ – together with another cut out news article with Bellwether arrested, a picture of a basket with blueberries and in a small affixed plastic pocket Nick’s boy scout bandana he had used to bandage Judy’s leg in the museum.

He laughed, stroking with his paw over the plastic pocket. “You are a little pack rat, Misses Hopps-Wilde!”

Judy giggled and shrugged with her shoulders. “Maybe?”

On the next few pages were photos of Nick on the police academy and the headline ‘ _Surpassing himself_ ’ – concluding with Judy giving him his badge on his graduation.  The next double-sided page was a big poster of the Gazelle concert they were attending a few days after; in the middle were their tickets affixed and on another page were quite a few photos of them from different angles, standing arm in arm in the Hollow Bar and sharing their very first kiss on the dance floor. Obviously they were photographed by nearly every colleague that was still present at the bar back then.

The following pages were full with their first weeks as a couple: Their second place on the biathlon, Nick sitting in a wheelchair with casts and Judy’s little sisters climbing on him, a photo of Nick’s final welcome in the big living room of the Hopps’ burrow together with dozens of Judy’s siblings and their first photo on the family tree wall in the background, during a walk in the park or the streets of Zootopia, sitting in a café, sharing the small beds in their former single apartments, dozens of selfies, their final move into the new common apartment they were still living in, a few small awards they got during work, the little papers with hints from the scavenger hunt Nick performed for their six months anniversary … then there was a affixed invitation to Evelin and Sven’s wedding together with the tickets for the cinema Judy went to with Evelin two days before the wedding. On the next page was a photo of Nick kneeling in front of an all in tears Judy Hopps, holding a ring in his paws and asking her to marry him. Below the photo Judy wrote with the gold and silver markers in big letters ‘ _Yes!_ ’, together with a photo of her plain engagement ring – and her singing enthusiastically (and most probably drunken), dancing on a seat during the party in the cinema. Another ten pages were full with pictures of their wedding, showing them alone, together with Evelin and Sven, their witnesses, dancing on the party, with their parents and also a photo of the brooch – a family heirloom of the Wilde family – Judy got as a gift from Nick’s mother before their wedding.

One of the last pages caused Nick to wince slightly, the cut out news article of the assault against Judy with a car bomb stared him in the face. Above the article was written: ‘ _The price of finally realizing the truth was high…_ ’ and beside was a copy of Judy’s X-ray image and a photo of dozens little shrapnel. Nick tightened his hug slightly, then read the text below the news article: ‘ _But as it was initially Bellwether’s case bringing us together, it seems almost natural that another case associated with her marked the beginning of a new chapter in our own family chronicle…_ ’ – he turned the page and saw what Judy had pasted into the album when he returned from shopping nearly one and a half hour ago: The ultrasound image Doctor Alisson had made just yesterday, showing two little beating hearts. Below it was written: ‘ _Our personal little miracle and the greatest gift we could ever hope for_ ’ – a few pages were still empty and Nick slowly closed the thick album with shaking paws.

“I…”, Nick began to speak but paused again, not knowing how to express what he was feeling right now. After all that time Judy still managed to surprise him with the most unique and touching present someone had ever made for him. He wanted to hug her, say how much he loved and yearned for her, how much her gift really meant for him, … but he could only stare at the closed album, being in an emotional stupor like the day before when he learned that Judy was pregnant.

Based on his reaction on the surface one could be worried that he didn’t really liked the gift, but Judy knew her fox better and could hear his heart beating at an almost alarming rate. Rendering her otherwise nimble-witted fox speechless and stunned was probably the greatest compliment. She pulled Nick’s upper body back against the couch at his shoulders and crawled on his lap, putting her arms around his neck, cuddling him lovingly. It took him a while to regain his full consciousness, putting his arms around the furball on his lap and snuggled his face against Judy’s.

“You are incredible…”, he whispered into her ears, sniveling silently.

“You really sat the bar high in the past, foxtrot.”, Judy snickered and gave him a soft kiss.

“We are definitely even, carrots.”, Nick gave a short laugh and replied her kiss affectionately.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As it's somewhat a tradition to make a resume of the past year when a new one is just around the corner, I decided to make some kind of summarizing chapter with quite some fluff to deepen the characters with a few details.
> 
> Thank you to all my readers - and especially commenters! - for your ongoing support during the last year and will try to continually come up to your expectations!
> 
> I wish you all a happy new year! :) <3


	5. Sister Act

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “How humiliating to lose, of all the games, this one as a fox!” Nick sighed, but smiled and shook Evelin’s paw. “Congratulations, sly bunny!”
> 
> “So, I get to decide the next game?”, Evelin slyly grinned while they all bundled the cards of Munchkin back together.
> 
> “I guess so. Something special on your mind?”, Ralph asked, sipping on his Tequila Sunrise, already feeling a bit dizzy.
> 
> “You bet”, Evelin winked. “Let’s play truth or dare!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>   
>    
> 

_"_ _A birth-date is a reminder to celebrate the life as well as to update the life." – Amit Kalantri_

* * *

It was nearly daunting how fast the week went by. Nick and Judy had talked a lot about the last weeks and how their life had changed: For the better and for the worse. The nightmares and fears since the bomb assault decreased, but Judy's pains in the chest and the few bare spots in her fur that were visible even when clothed, were a constant reminder. On Thursday Nick had a call with Doctor Carter to arrange his next four appointments – the first one was already on the next day on Friday. But the young couple also read and talked a lot about rabbit pregnancies, and especially those about mixed-species pregnancies. They even started to plan how to alter their apartment, making it more suitable for kits.

On Friday morning after their breakfast, they both went to the inner city by tram. Nick had his appointment with Doctor Carter and Judy wanted to officially inform Chief Bogo about her pregnancy and request maternity leave for the time after her sick note. When they arrived at Precinct One, Judy hesitated to enter it for the first time.

Nick stopped and turned around, "Everything okay, carrots? Are you sure you want to go to Bogo already this week?"

"It's okay".

Judy smiled and took a deep breath. Even when having a rough start as a small prey, everybody respected her and the work she accomplished like any other police officer by now. But she still had some reproaches because of Officer Reed – he had to protect her particularly because of her size. Now she couldn't even help their colleagues for several weeks while being sick, but she was also afraid how Bogo would react because of her maternity leave. Of course, there were quite some women on the force, but those who had children were mostly on office duty or in-door staff. There was no Officer on field work with children – as far as she knew. But that was exactly what she planned to continue to do in the future, going on patrol with Nick and ' _kicking the buts of the baddies'_ , as she had called it while talking with Nick.

Nick was still watching her and she finally winked: "Come on, or you'll be late to your appointment".

He gave her a short kiss and smiled, holding the glass door open for her. They approached the front-desk from the left side so Clawhauser wouldn't see them immediately. It was only when Nick was leaning on his desk, that the cheetah turned his head pleasantly surprised – but couldn't see the little rabbit yet.

"Nick! How are you? I thought that you had a free week! How is Judy?"

"I have an appointment with Doctor Carter at ten o'clock". Nick smiled with a short side-glance to the clock on the wall behind the desk. He still had a few minutes left. "But you have to do me a small favor, Big-Ben".

"Suuuure! What is it?" the cheetah was propping his head on both paws, his arms resting with the elbows on the desk and looking eagerly to Nick.

"Well, I know how you sometimes have the tendency to freak out. Just remember, that you are a big and strong guy and how painful a few broken ribs could be, especially when starting to hug someone…" Nick winked with a sly grin.

"Oh… erm…?" Clawhauser was looking a bit quizzical, not quite sure what his fox-friend was talking about.

Nick made a step to the side and nodded his head with a wink in Judy's direction. The cheetah's eyes widened and with a joyful squeak he jumped off his chair and ran around the front-desk, approaching Judy with arms extended.

"OHHHH, JUDY!"

The rabbit grinned a bit, preparing to be crushed any moment, but Benjamin took a short break before gently hugging her while grinning from ear-to-ear.

"You're looking as cute as always!" he shouted with glee.

"Thanks, Ben". Judy smiled with a sigh and Nick snickered.

"Okay, I think I can leave you both alone for an hour. See you later, carrots". He said and gave his rabbit a quick kiss between her ears before walking to the stairs, heading for the second floor.

"How are you doing, do you still have pain? How are your kits? Oh, we are all missing you two already! If I had known that you were coming today, I would have planned …" the cheetah bombarded her with questions after he sat behind his desk again.

Judy grinned and held up her paw as a sign to hold up for a moment. "That's exactly why I didn't announced it in advance", she winked. "I just wanted to accompany Nick for his appointment and take the opportunity to officially inform Chief Bogo about my pregnancy and request maternity leave. Don't make a fuss about me being here today, please".

"Okay". Clawhauser looked a bit disappointed but then smiled again already. "Oh, it's so great to see you again on your own feet! We were all concerned when we saw you in that wheelchair last week during the funeral, but didn't have the opportunity to talk to you or Nick as you left quickly again. But Bogo made it clear to all, that you need some time to yourself, or we would all have been visiting you already!"

"Yeah, the last one-and-a-half weeks were a little bit rough…" she smiled. "But since we're already talking about it, how are the investigations regarding Ramses and Bale going on?"

"I…", Clawhauser hesitated, "…actually I think that I'm not allowed to talk about those with you, as you are involved yourself and too close". He looked nervous and not too happy.

"Come on, just a quick summary. I will show you my first ultrasound picture in return, deal?" she winked with a wide grin.

* * *

"Come in!" – Doctor Carter waved to Nick after he had knocked on her door and entered. "Hello, Nick. Great that our appointment worked out even on such short notice!" she shook his paw and they sat down on the two couches.

"When we have to meet, we can also do it as soon as possible so I can get back on duty", He smiled noncommittal.

"You consider these meetings as some kind of penalization, don't you?"

"Well, you said we would just talk, but based on your evaluation I was put on office duty".

"That was no punishment, Nick. It takes a while to fully realize and eventually process traumatic events, and you are putting yourself and your colleagues in danger if this happens at the wrong moment while in the field".

"That wouldn't happen!"

"I believe you right now, but you cannot know that".

"I'm fighting against the prejudgment of being a coward and unreliable fox since I joined the police. Your evaluation will render all my efforts to nothing again!" Nick sounded frustrated.

Doctor Carter still stayed calm, explaining: "I saw experienced officers and detectives that were on duty for more than twenty years, who were suddenly scared stiff in a critical situation, because some details reminded them of an event they never really processed. This is something that can happen to everyone and really has nothing to do with your species".

"Do you really believe others will be able to differentiate that?"

"You should put more trust into your colleagues", Samantha smiled encouragingly.

"Oh, great. Now we are discussing my trust-issues, too?" Nick rolled his eyes annoyed.

"We can talk about everything, Nick. These meet-ups are for you, and of course we can talk about anything that you perceive as an issue. But don't hustle me with a psychologist act, and I won't hang out on it either".

The fox sighed and nodded, "Sorry".

"Well, now that we have cleared that up: How is Judy doing? I heard that you took this week off to stay at home with her".

"Her injuries are healing well, but she is still in quite some pain because of her broken ribs".

"Oh, I understand. Yes, those chest injuries are really inconvenient. Normally you would immobilize the broken part of the body, reducing the pain drastically. But a cast around the chest would obstruct breathing even more as it is already due to the injuries and is rarely an option. In a few weeks it should get better after the body build up some callus", – when Nick looked somewhat surprised, Doctor Carter winked: "I'm not only psychologist but an educated doctor".

"Sorry, I didn't mean to be impolite". Nick smiled somewhat embarrassed.

"Don't worry about it", She smiled kindly. "But you are aware that it will take a while until Judy can get back on duty with you then? Even when it doesn't hurt anymore in a few weeks, she will be able to do some light office work at most. As a general rule, it will take around three months for broken rips to heal completely".

"Yes, our family doctor already informed us about that. Actually, it may take even longer for her to return into active duty…" Nick sighed, but also smiled a bit.

"Does your doctor expect some complications?" Doctor Carter inclined her head.

"Not really a complication…" Nick hesitated – "Judy is pregnant".

"Oh! Congratulations, Nick!" Samantha Carter smiled widely. "After all that's happened, I guess that is some really great news. I guess, you two already planned to have kits for a while then?"

"Actually…", Nick rubbed his neck – "…we seriously talked about it the first time after the assault".

Doctor Carter nodded slowly. "That's nothing to be ashamed of, Nick. Those things are prone to make everyone think about their future. Some stop bad habits, some try out new things or fulfill some long-deferred wishes. And especially in case of a couple it's only natural to think about things like marriage and kits". She frowned a bit, then continued in a more quizzical tone: "You said, that Judy is already pregnant. Regarding that you two talked about it only last week…"

"You said you are also a medical doctor; I guess you are wondering about the timeframe?" Nick smiled somewhat.

"We don't have to talk about it, I'm just somewhat curious", she smiled and, when Nick nodded, continued – "I think you wanted to try it with in vitro fertilization, but that would take more than just a week. And I don't think that a serious doctor would begin with the procedure with her current injuries. Are you the father, or…?"

"Well, that would explain my trust-issues if I weren't, right?" Nick smiled friendly.

"I won't deny, that I thought about it", Doctor Carter smiled forthcoming.

"It came as a surprise to us too. But maybe I was a rabbit in my prior life", Nick winked.

"You don't like being a fox?"

"Whatever gave you that idea?"

"You are speaking of foxes being distrustful; believing others and especially your colleagues would not rely on you because of your species. Marrying someone of another species and even thinking about being a rabbit in your prior life…"

"That just was an idiom", Nick rolled his eyes.

"Maybe, but it emphasizes your basic attitude, don't you think?"

"I didn't marry Judy because she is a rabbit or because I don't want to be a fox! I love her because she is a beautiful, intelligent, loving and a snappy mammal. It had nothing to do with her or my species!" Nick sounded upset again.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to minimalize your relationship or emotions! What I was talking about is, that maybe some of your concerns – like the missing trust of your colleagues – are just a mirrored attitude of yourself".

"It's not my attitude, but experiences I made with others".

"I guessed so. You also grew up here in Zootopia, right?" Doctor Carter asked, and Nick nodded confirming. "It was a different time back then; we predators were more often confronted with prejudice, and it was even worse for foxes, living in the Meadowlands. But look at you now: You are an honored police officer, proving all those old prejudices wrong! You married a wonderful woman regardless of her species, again despite every prejudice against fox and rabbits – and I know how serious foxes take romantic relationships. Now you are even having your own kits. You were fighting hard to prove everyone wrong who tried to pigeon-hole you! And now being successful you are afraid you will lose all of this again".

"Assuming this to be true…", Nick said slowly – "Wouldn't this be quite comprehensible?"

"This is what I was trying to say, Nick", Samantha said smiling friendly. "You proved everyone wrong, but yourself. It's not like others aren't trusting you; you are assuming they aren't because you wouldn't if you were in their spot. After all that time, you are still trying to fight your worst enemy: Yourself".

"Great, I'm not a narcissist, but the opposite. What do you call that?" Nick sighed.

"When it comes to an extreme you would call the opposite someone with major depression. But in your case?" she smiled – "It's all too faunal to fear losing what you had worked hard for. Just because you are talking with a psychologist doesn't mean you are mentally ill. I'm just trying to help you to be more balanced and pleased with your own achievements".

Nick leaned back on the couch, thinking about Doctor Carters words for a while in silence. He finally asked: "What has all of this got to do with what happened in the car park?"

"Although you did your best, and succeeded, a colleague who trusted your decision died. You were in doubt for several days if it was your fault or not, and even now – knowing that it wasn't – you fear that your colleagues would hold it against you, And the next time you are in a critical situation, have to make a difficult decision and trust your intuition, it's possible that this fear will paralyze you. This explosion made your own fears that you carried with you for so long surface again, And I want to help you to process this".

"And I thought that I had a tough job…", Nick snickered with a wink.

Samantha laughed – "Don't worry, you are a good guy with decent character; that makes my job easier".

* * *

"Hopps!" – Chief Bogo greeted his only rabbit officer with his usual noncommittal facial expression. "Take a seat, please".

"Thank you, Chief", Judy smiled a bit and climbed on one of the big chairs.

"It's good to see you walking on your own again. How are your injuries?"

"They're okay." She smiled – "Could really be worse."

" _Though she be but little, she is fierce!_ " Bogo suggested with a small smile.

"You're citing William Shakespaw? Never thought of you as being a fan of the classics, Chief!" Judy snickered.

"Hrmph…" Bogo snorted. "Well, I guess you're not only making a courtesy visit, Officer Hopps?"

"No, Sir.", Judy shook her head. "I'm here to officially request maternity leave for after my sick note has ended".

The cape buffalo leaned back in his chair, watching Judy carefully over the edge of his reading glasses. "Do you remember what I told you the first day Officer Wilde and you came to me, suggesting you were fraternizing?"

"Yes?"

"I seem to remember saying that I don't care what you do in your private time as long as it will not interfere with your job", Bogo grumbled and took his glasses off.

"Y-Yes…?"

"Well, I think you can call getting pregnant interfering quite obviously with your job!" he leaned forward.

"But Sir, I …" Judy seemed to feel somewhat uneasy.

"Just kidding!" Bogo smirked, stood up from his chair and handed his hoof to Judy. "Congratulations, you two!"

Judy twitched with her muzzle and laughed shortly, shaking his hoof relieved. "Thanks Chief! So you're fine with it?"

"You should have seen your face", Bogo winked. "Your maternity leave will be approved of course, Clawhauser will hand you the appropriate form. I guess you know that he already informed us on Monday?"

"He mentioned it … but I thought I should inform you officially in person nevertheless".

"Sometimes I wonder where this cheetah gets all of his information. A Sloth would probably outrun him, but he always the first to have the newest information and rumors".

Judy decided, that it was definitely not her job to inform Bogo about Clawhauser's informant and just agreed with him. "I have something else on my mind, Sir."

"Yes?" Bogo leaned back again.

"I was wondering, if I'm still allowed to return to normal duty after my return…"

"What makes you challenge this, Hopps?" Bogo raised his eyebrows.

"Well, I know no female Officer or Detective with children that is still on field work. Of course, I will be at home for a while, but … I never thought of abandoning my regular job permanently and really want to go on patrol with Ni… Officer Wilde again after my return".

"Hopps, be assured that I will save your place in my squad as long as needed, and Officer Wilde will be reassigned as your partner when you return; I'm sure that no other can bear with him in the long run anyway", Bogo smiled slyly. "In fact, we have a few Officers on field work with children. But most of them request shifting to office duty because it's more safe, and even when I said I would save your place … I want you to at least think about it. Your risk is even higher, because you and your husband are both working on the force; I guess I don't have to emphasize the possible risks, especially to you. But I will leave the final decision on this to you and Wilde. If you are sure about coming back to the squad, you will be welcomed! Be assured we already started to miss our _cute token bunny_." – he smirked on his last words and Judy rolled her eyes.

"Thank you, Chief. I promise I'll think about it", she smiled a bit.

The intercom was beeping and Clawhauser's tinny voice was heard: "Chief, Officer Wilde wants to talk with you for a moment".

"Speak of the devil…", Bogo rolled his eyes and answered the intercom: "Send him in".

It took a minute before he knocked on the door. Bogo called: "Come in!"

Nick entered the office and saluted: "Good morning, Sir!"

"Wilde! Take a seat, I just talked with your partner… and congratulations for you, too!", Bogo handed him his hoof with a light smile. "I didn't expect you before next week, what's the matter?"

"Thank you, Sir. I just had another appointment with Doctor Carter and just wanted to inform you that I would like to accept yours and Detective Marki's offer".

"Glad to hear that, I will inform him and you report on Monday directly at his department. Anything else?"

"No, Sir."

"Okay, I think we were finished, too, Hopps?", Bogo turned his head to Judy who nodded.

"Yes, Sir."

"Dismissed, then! Unlike you, I still have some work to do today!", he grumbled.

Judy and Nick were nearly out of the door when the rabbit stopped and turned around again: "You are coming tomorrow evening, too?"

"We will see…", Bogo muttered without looking up from the case file he already started to read.

* * *

On their way out, Nick and Judy met Delgato and Wolford who had arrested a panda. Of course, the two colleagues wanted to congratulate the pregnant couple and they talked for a short while. When they finally left the precinct, it was half past eleven and drizzling, making them head for the subway station rather quickly. The next train heading to the main railway station was due in six minutes – Judy's two litter-siblings Ralph and Clara were visiting them over the weekend as it was Judy's and theirs 26th birthday the next day. With so many children it was only natural that not everyone's birthday was celebrated with a big party after reaching a certain age. After that the litter siblings normally met and had a small celebration among themselves. Last year they met at Ralph's burrow and Clara suggested to meet in Zootopia this year. The two bunnies had announced their arrival for 13:12, so Nick and Judy had planned to go for a short walk beforehand; but as they did not bring an umbrella, they now drove to the station immediately and killed time with a coffee at Starpaws.

"So, how was your meeting with Bogo?" Nick asked after they entered the train and sat down on a bench.

"You were right, he tried to kid me. First blueberry muffin is on me", she grinned with a short roll of her eyes.

"Yessss!", Nick made a fist-pump and grinned happily like a dog with two tails.

"Dumb fox", his rabbit leaned her head against his shoulder and smiled. "He was really nice otherwise, said he would save my place in the squad as your partner for when I return".

"See? You were falsely alarmed as I told you, carrots." Nick smiled and put his arm around her shoulders. "No other could stand my charming personality as a partner in the long run anyway", – Judy began to snicker and Nick raised an eyebrow: "What?"

"That's exactly what Bogo said, too".

"Some buffalo swallowed a clown for breakfast, mh?", Nick sighed with a smile.

Judy took his paw and got off their bench as the train just arrived at the station, pulling Nick with her giggling: "Don't pout, you know he's right, foxtrot".

"That makes it even worse, carrots!" Nick winked and they headed to the coffee shop.

They both took a large latte and some muffins – blueberry for Nick and with chocolate chips for Judy. After finding themselves a table a bit apart in a corner, Judy asked: "And how was your therapy session?"

"Doctor Carter believes that I got a few trust-issues!", Nick chuckled.

"No way!", Judy put a paw in front of her mouth with wide open eyes in played shock. "And she needs to be a doctor to get this insight?" – she started to giggle a bit.

"That's quite counterproductive, cottontail…"

Judy giggled even more – "I'm sorry, Nick. But that is one of your most obvious character traits…". When the fox started to pout again, she put her paw onto his and smiled. "I didn't say it's a bad trait, it's really cute from time to time. Maybe it's just somewhat hindering when it's regarding our job."

"Says the paramount example of self-assurance."

"Not always, as you know for sure", she smiled and took another sip of her latte. "Wanna talk about it, or was your meeting already enough for today?"

"Well, to be honest I think that those sessions are somewhat helpful…" Nick took a thoughtful bite of his muffin and eventually told her what he talked about with Doctor Carter.

* * *

When the Zootopia Express arrived, Judy and Nick were waiting in the middle of the platform and kept watching for Judy's siblings. As Nick was obviously larger than the rabbit, he saw them first and waved smiling in their direction. Ralph was carrying a handgrip and walked towards them while Clara ran towards her sister with short leaps – Judy had to stop her with her outstretched arms so Clara would not accidently crush another of her ribs and finally they hugged carefully and giving quick kisses to each other's cheeks.

Nick was a few meters behind Judy, walking over to them slowly with a small grin. When he suddenly got a quick smell of a decent but all-so-familiar scent, he turned his head and saw Evelin approaching them from the other end of the platform. When she saw that Nick had noticed her, she winked with a big grin to him and put a finger in front of her mouth as a gesture to stay quiet. After arriving at Nick's side, he took her small bag and Eve snuck up on Judy, who was currently hugging Ralph, and eventually put her paws from behind over Judy's eyes who squeaked in surprise – but Evelin's pregnant belly pressing against Judy's back revealed her immediately who also came for a visit and she turned quickly around, shouting with glee.

"Eve! You're here, too!?", Judy hugged her best friend and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"You're really a great cop, recognizing even the smallest traces", Evelin snickered.

"Dumb bunny", Judy outstretched her tongue and grinned. "You should feel lucky that I made enough lasagna so you can eventually have some, too".

"I called us a Zuber, he will collect us in a few minutes at the main entrance. Walking home in the rain isn't desirable, I like my bunnies dry and happy", Nick winked and took Ralph's bag, too, walking ahead while the four bunnies were following him a bit slower and talking eagerly.

When they left the railway station, their Zuber driver was already waiting and it took them ten minutes to get home. Nick brought their guests bag into the guest room and thoughtfully leaned on the wall.

"Hey, Nick. Everything okay?" Ralph had entered the room, searching for the fox.

"Mh…? Oh, yeah. I was just thinking how to best split all of us into the different sleeping rooms", he smiled. "You and Clara can sleep here in the guest room and I will stay on the couch so Evelin and Judy can both share our bedroom".

"Eve will probably protest against this, she didn't intend to banish you from your own bed!"

"Nah, that will be no problem. Besides I would never let a pregnant rabbit sleep on a convertible sofa or the couch", he winked.

"Your guest bed is big enough for all three of us!" Ralph smiled. "We have all shared our bedrooms with so many siblings for so long, that's really no problem at all".

"Let's postpone this decision until later, I guess Judy is already in the kitchen preparing lunch!" Nick took a long sniff and patted Ralph on his shoulders. "Come on, I chilled a few bottles of your favorite apple beer – how was your journey?"

Judy had banned everyone from the kitchen while she was preparing lunch, and later got a lot of praise for her lasagna from all her guests and Nick.

"It's nearly the same as mine…" Evelin pondered, "But you changed something, didn't you?" – when Judy wanted to protest, Eve grinned and made a defensive gesture. "No, no, nothing bad, really! It tastes great, but I know how my own recipe tastes. You gave it your own touch, didn't you?"

"Well, maybe I made a few very small variations to your recipe", Judy snickered.

"She isn't even telling me what she changed, can you believe this?" Nick pouted.

"I remember when you tried to make this Hollandaise Sauce from the fresh asparagus Mom sent us", Judy was talking reproachful to Nick, then turned her head to her siblings with a wink. "Since then we have a small fire extinguisher in the kitchen!"

Ralph made big eyes, Clara and Evelin just started to giggle. Nick sighed and dropped his gaze, starting to clean up the table.

"You can sit down in the living room while Nick and I clean everything up", Judy smiled.

Evelin laid down on the couch, her head resting on Clara's lap and her feet on Ralph's. The three were quietly talking and giggling when their hosts joined them, bringing a few glasses and bottles on two tablets with them.

"Why are you all crowding on a single couch?" Nick raised his eyebrows irritated, but Judy snickered.

"We rabbits prefer groups, we are generally not too happy being alone. Not even on a couch when visiting the only sister that lives 300km away!" Evelin snickered.

"You can just agree that you love all the attention being pregnant", Judy winked and sat down with Nick on another couch.

"Don't you miss all of this, sis?" Ralph asked smiling.

"Hey, she is not alone! Maybe I am no rabbit, but I'm at least as cuddly as you", Nick snickered and the other rabbits joined in laughing.

Judy smiled to her fox and gave him a kiss. "Our regular visits in Bunnyburrow made it easier, but of course I miss all of you".

"Speaking of missing you", Evelin smiled. "I already asked Ralph and Clara to be godparents for my first litter, but it would be really great if you would agree, too, Juju."

"Aww, that's really nice of you, Eve!" Judy's eyes were beaming happily. "You know of course, that I have to refuse, but I feel lucky that you asked me nevertheless".

"Why do you have to refuse? And why do you say 'of course'? I'm being totally serious about that; I really want you to be their godmother!" Evelin frowned and looked irritated.

"How would I perform my obligations as a godmother when I live here in Zootopia? Also, I will be working in the near future again. Those aren't good premises, and you know that. You, and especially your kits deserve someone closer and with a lot more time for them!" Judy smiled; she didn't seem to be envenomed about it, only a bit sad.

"Sorry, but do the godparents in rabbit families have a special purpose? In fox families we have two godparents for our kits. They will adopt them if something bad happens to both parents while the kits are young. But when I listen to you two talking about it, there seems to be some different tasks for the godparents?" Nick cocked his head and looked questioningly to Judy and Eve. But it was Ralph who was starting with an answer.

"Well, as you probably now, rabbit families can have quite a lot of kits".

"You don't say!" Nick looked shocked and the rabbits giggled.

"Of course, the parents still have jobs, or in case of a family business quite some work to do, besides parenting that is", Ralph said, then Clara continued:

"So, if a bunny gets pregnant, she declares a few godparents for their litter. For the first litter that's usually the own litter siblings of both parents, depending on the litter-size sometimes an additional siblings-litter. There are always siblings in each family that are caring for the household of the burrow and the child education of the other kits mainly. Some of those even make a job out of it, later – becoming a kindergarten Teacher like Eve for example!"

Judy continued and turned to Nick: "So, while the parents are caring for their kits for the first few weeks, the godparents take care of their godchildren over the day in the following years to relieve the parents. So our kits education is still in the family and not in the responsibility of a foreign baby-sitter", she smiled and turned back to her siblings. "And that's also the reason I have to refuse, Eve. Not only am I living far away from home, but both Nick and I still have jobs. We didn't even have a solution yet how to take care of our own kits, there is no realistic chance we can regularly look after yours, too. As happy as I would be to do it!" she smiled regretful.

"You are all correct", Eve said. "But you missed another aspect of the godparents: They are very important role models for the kits. And you are not only my best friend, Judy, but also my big role model since we were kits".

"And you really want to appeal this fate for your own kits, too?" Nick snickered and received a hard punch against his shoulder for it from Judy.

"Well, beside her mate selection I see nothing wrong with Juju", Eve winked.

"Pff…", Nick folded his arms and leaned back against the couch, nipping on his apple beer.

"I'm really touched, Eve, and I feel honored", Judy smiled widely.

"Then just agree, and I will stop bugging you about it", Eve grinned.

"But…" Judy began, but Evelin threw a pillow in her direction.

"No buts, Juju. The distance is as obvious to Sven and me as the fact that you and Nick are working. We still want you as close friends and role models to play a big role in our kits life", Evelin smiled and turned her head to Nick. "Oh, you two that is, Sven and I agreed that we want you both as godparents. Our youngest siblings simply love you, foxy, and you will be a great godfather to our litter, too".

"Me? Are you sure?" Nick gulped a bit embarrassed. "That's really an honor, thanks Eve. But I'm not sure if I can measure up to your expectations".

Judy smiled first to Nick, then to Evelin and nodded. "Okay, if you really insist on it. But I already feel guilty for not spending enough time with them!" she sighed winking.

"That led us to another subject!" Clara said smiling. "You said you didn't want to become a godmother because of the long distance and because you're working. But you are having your own litter in a few weeks, too! Did you never thought about asking us to be your godparents?"

"I… err…" Judy hesitated nervously. "To be honest, I didn't want you to slide into the awkward situation of having to refuse it. I'm the only rabbit of our family living this far away from the burrow. It's just impossible to maintain all of our traditions", she sighed somewhat sadly and leaned her head against Nick's shoulder, who put his arm around her.

"And what will you do after your maternity leave? We all know how much you love your job; I cannot imagine you as a house-bunny. The same for you, Nick", Ralph questioned them.

The fox cleared his throat, "My mother offered to look after our kits during the week while we are at work. She isn't the youngest and it will be no durable solution, but it will make her happy and at least it's a short-time solution for the first few months".

"We also visited a playgroup for prey here in Zootopia, but they don't support our uncommon working shifts. Also, they don't accept any predator kits to ' _avoid problems_ '." Judy rolled her eyes. "When we told them about our mixed-species kits, they wanted to call us back but never did. So, as I said before, we don't really have a solution yet, but there are still a few weeks left".

"She really didn't intend to ask us", Ralph frowned and spoke to Clara who nodded and answered:

"Yeah, I would be spiky about it if I wasn't so shocked!"

"Maybe she's been in this big city for too long and has forgotten about all her family values. I mean, this is the classical situation why the godparents exist: First-time parents, both working full-time and being slightly overcharged by their first litter", Evelin talked with Ralph and Clara as if Judy and Nick weren't even there.

Judy wanted to say something, but Ralph interrupted her before she could even start: "I guess, she would concede the long distance and that it's her own fault for having left the burrow".

"Since when does the family end on the border of the burrow? Besides, Zootopia isn't too far away, it's just a two-hour ride with the Express", Clara answered.

Again, Judy wanted to say something, but this time Evelin interrupted her beforehand: "It's just a short ride, still you cannot commute on a daily basis. But when they are going to visit us on weekends in Bunnyburrow, some of us could accompany them and stay with them in the guest room during the week. There would be a dozen siblings willing to help them out, let alone the chance to visit Zootopia. So, I would be willing to visit her twice a month. This would also give them the chance to spend additional time with my kits, too! Miriam, Fiona, River and Jenny all agreed to this idea, too – what about you?"

Judy and Nick were looking at each other, both rather perplexed as the other rabbits were planning on solving all baby-sitting-problems as if they weren't even attending.

"I bet Mel would love to come to Zootopia from time to time", Ralph said, talking about his wife.

"Me, too! I also have a few friends here but only rarely have the opportunity to visit", Clara said grinning.

"Yeah, seems as if there really is no big thing about this. I have absolutely no idea, why Juju never thought of asking or even just talking with us about it", Eve concluded with a sigh.

"Maybe it's the influence of this fox she had married: He slowly tries to isolate her from her family and finally bring her into total subjection… she seems to be a big fan of this pred-prey-thingy..." Clara said thoughtfully.

"HEY!" Judy straightened up on the couch with narrowed eyes. She knew exactly that her sister was only joking, but wasn't sure if Nick knew it, too. And at this point it was more safe to eventually break up the little show her siblings obviously had planned. "I think we get what you are talking about!" she snorted with a small grin.

"Are you sure?" Eve grinned at her sister.

"Yeah", Judy smiled widely, got off the couch and tried to hug all three other bunnies at once, some tears in her eyes. "I didn't want to bother you with our problems and had totally forgotten that with such a great family there is no problem I couldn't bother you with".

While all four rabbits were cuddling, Nick got off his couch and started to shuffle in direction of the kitchen.

"Hey, foxy! Where are you going?" Evelin snickered over Judy's shoulder.

"Someplace where I'm not isolating your cute bunny even more from you", he muttered moping.

All rabbits paused at once, Clara looking rather shocked and even Evelin twitched nervously with her muzzle. Judy didn't say anything, but her ears were twitching a bit. Nick was near the door, letting his shoulders and tail droop, when Clara leaped off the couch and ran after him.

"H-Hey, Nick! I… I was just joking!" she stood in front of him with big pleading eyes.

"Yes. Of course", he indifferently patted her head and passed her slowly.

"But Nick…" Clara wasn't sure what to say or do and looked seeking for help from her siblings.

"Sweet cheese and crackers…" Ralph muttered, "That worked out different than originally planned".

While Evelin got off the couch and walked after Nick, too, Judy turned to Ralph: "What do you think would happen if you are going to insinuate such things?" – by now she was pretty sure that Nick was only acting – his heartbeat wasn't slow and sad, but more ' _playful'_. But she was totally fine with him having a tit-for-tat response for her cocky siblings and playing along with him.

Ralph just shrugged: "We thought that you would have said something up to this point of our dialog, so we just wanted to provoke a reaction. But it was not our intention to insult or hurt Nick, I promise!"

Evelin had caught up with Nick in the meantime. "Hey, foxy…" she said slowly, reaching with her paw for his arm. Nick stopped, not looking at her and still pouting. "We didn't mean to hurt you; it was meant as a joke but it totally backfired. Come down here, Nick…", she smiled encouraging and held her arms in his direction.

When Nick turned around, he squatted in front of her and Evelin immediately put her arms around his neck, hugging him gently. "I'm really sorry, Nick"

Nick, who was looking over her shoulder in Judy's direction, started to grin slyly and patted Evelin's back with a deep playful sigh. "I know, Eve…" – he watched Judy already rolling her eyes with a small grin as she could imagine what he was up to.

"Are you okay again, Nick?" Eve asked carefully, still hugging him.

He grabbed with one paw around her butt and with the other around her back, straighten up again and lifting her on his arm, whispering in her ear: "Sure, now after I caught myself a little dessert."

"Eeek!" – Evelin was startled for a short moment, then squeaked and struggled with her legs, laughing. "Dumb fox! Let me down!"

Clara and Ralph didn't realize what had happened but Judy giggled quietly and watched how Nick was carrying her struggling sister to the empty couch and carefully laid her down. When Evelin wanted to punch Nick on his shoulder, he grabbed her little fist and lowered his head with bared teeth, licking with his tongue over his lips.

"Tasty bunny…" he snarled, and Evelin was paralyzed from shock and just stared at those dangerous looking teeth heading for her throat.

"N-Nick…?" she whimpered quietly and in the next second Nick was smiling friendly without showing his teeth anymore.

"Yes, Eve?" Nick cocked his head and smiled at her with his big, innocent, green eyes.

It took another few seconds until Judy could hear how Ralph exhaled deeply and then started to laugh.

"Oh, you should have seen your eyes!" Judy giggled amused and walked over to Nick and Eve. Clara trudged back to Ralph, too, and sat beside him.

"Okay, never fool around with a predator again", she muttered and nudged Ralph with her elbow.

"Sweet cheese and crackers…" Evelin panted quietly. "I feel like… I have no idea how I feel!" she straightened up on the couch again, glancing to Nick. "I was quite sure that you weren't going to bite me", she smiled. "But I still felt like… like…" Eve took a deep breath and Judy snickered.

"Yeah, I know exactly what you are talking about, sis", she winked.

"Be glad, that I didn't have my kits right here on your couch!" Evelin replied her wink. "Wow… okay, I could use a shower now! Would you mind if Nick joins me?" she grinned.

"You already had your foxy-sample, I keep the rest of him for myself" Judy laughed.

"Okay, maybe _you_ can join me then? I need someone to help me with my back, I'm not as agile with this belly as before", Eve winked, got off the couch and pulled Judy on her paw along to the bathroom.

"I would have helped, too!" Nick shouted after them with a sly grin and both, Clara and Ralph, laughed.

"You gave me a real scare, Nick!" Clara pouted, but was grinning nevertheless.

"Aww, come on. You can dish it out but cannot take it on the chin?" he winked and sat beside her on the couch, putting his arm around Clara's shoulders.

Ralph was still snickering, "She is just green-eyed because you bared your teeth against Eve, as she is curious about that pred-prey-thing hersel… OUCH!" he laughed when Clara punched him hard on his arm, flashing her eyes at him.

"Is that so?" Nick grinned slyly, but then was thinking about how a big and cozy cheetah tries to growl dangerously and waves clumsily with his paws after a small rabbit – he suddenly winced on this mental image and took a big, long sip from his beer.

"But to take up the point you made earlier", Nick said after putting his empty glass down on the table again. "As generous as your offer is, that would be a lot of traveling for you just to support us with the kits".

"Not as much as you would think. You already travel to Bunnyburrow every two weeks on the weekends and one or two of us would just accompany you to Zootopia and back to Bunnyburrow. Also there are so many volunteers among the family, that each of us would only come here every few weeks or even months. If we are helping out our siblings for a few days in a burrow on the other side of Bunnyburrow or here in Zootopia, there really isn't a big difference. As long as you still have a guestroom for us to stay, there will be no problem at all!" Ralph was explaining and Clara nodded from time to time approving.

Nick smiled softly, noticeably emotional. "Already planned all of this, didn't you? You are really some great friends!"

"Even better", Clara winked and nudged him with her elbow. "We are one family! And that's just how things work between ourselves. Bunnies are great at logistics, you know", she winked.

* * *

"It would be much easier if you just join me in the shower, Juju", Evelin laughed. She was standing inside the shower with running water and Judy stood before the shower-door, massaging her sisters back with some shampoo, stretching her arms and watching out to don't get wet herself.

"You really have no shame, do you?" Judy giggled nervously, her muzzle twitching slightly.

"Oh, come on. We saw each other and all of our siblings naked dozens of times! Why should I be ashamed in front of _you_ , sis?"

"That was a few years ago, we were kits back then…" Judy muttered.

Evelin suddenly turned around and posed with her head cocked and a paw put on her waist. "I don't think that I have changed very much since then", she smiled slyly – "Okay, besides my slightly larger belly now".

Judy smiled awkwardly, her inner ears turned bright red by now. "You look really fantastic and beautiful as always, sis. It's just that I… we…" Judy gestured nervously with her paws – "We are now adults and not kits anymore! You cannot be naked in front of others willy-nilly!"

"Why not? I'm quite confident about my body and feel comfortable even naked", she grinned. "I find it rather funny that you are such a prude but at the same time having your little pred-prey-games with your foxy".

Judy put her paw in front of her mouth. "Eve!"

Evelin laughed and took a step to the back, the water now running over her head, ears and back. "Come on, make a photo of me for Sven. Just to make sure he will miss me even more this weekend".

"What!? You are joking, right?" Judy looked genuinely shocked.

"Absolutely not, sis" Evelin chuckled. "Aren't you teasing Nick from time to time with some dirty messages or photos?"

"No!" Judy wished the ground would open and swallow her up.

"You're a drag", Eve snickered – "Come on, taking a photo of me for Sven will not kill you."

Judy hesitatingly pulled her phone out of her pocket while Evelin was already posing naughtily again, the water dripping over her head and her ear over one side to her shoulder. It took Judy a few tries to make a sharp photo without jerking and breathed deeply.

"Okay, here you go. But I'm not sending it to Sven from my phone!" Judy winked.

Evelin snickered and stepped to the border of the shower, "Let me see it, sis!"

Judy sighed and stepped up to her, turning the phone screen around for Eve to see. But when she was in range, Evelin grabbed her sister suddenly and dragged her fully-clothed into the shower. Judy shrieked surprised and tried to get hold of the shower-door, but it was already too late and a short moment later she was standing beside Evelin, the water running down all over her head and soaking her clothes. Evelin laughed furiously when she noticed the abashed look on her sister's face, taking a photo of it immediately with the phone she had captured moments ago.

"Very funny. Ha. Ha", – Judy just stood there, fiercely flashing her eyes at her sister.

"Sorry, Juju", Evelin was still laughing hysterically. "But that's just a sight for sore eyes". She put the phone on a soap tray and tried to grab Judy's shirt at the bottom. "Come on, now you'd may as well pull off those clothes and join me in the shower as I suggested before", she giggled and Judy let Eve reluctantly help to undress her.

"Dumb rabbit", she muttered, still somewhat embarrassed.

* * *

Nick, Ralph and Clara were browsing the photo album Judy had made when the two other sisters joined them again.

"Ah, finished your shower finally?", Nick smiled and Judy crawled on his lap, cuddling him tightly without saying a word while Eve was still giggling quietly and sat down on the couch, too. Nick raised his eyebrows and fondled Judy's neck and back. "What have you done to my bunny?" he asked worried but Evelin just shrugged with a grin.

"We just showered together, more or less voluntarily", Eve winked while Ralph and Clara started to snicker.

"Judy showering together with another rabbit? You are really unbending today!" Clara grinned.

"She just dragged me under the shower while I was still fully dressed!" Judy muttered pouting into Nick's chest.

"Aww, my poor little rabbit", he patted her head but grinned. "I wish I had seen this!"

Judy punched him halfheartedly and Nick, snickering, gave her a kiss between her ears.

"I discussed with Ralph and Clara that as we are already celebrating together in the Hollow Bar tomorrow, we could relax at home tonight. We thought about a movie night and a board game party, what do you two think?" Nick suggested, still crawling Judy's ears.

"Great idea! Movies and board games also go well with pizza", Evelin clapped her hands. "This way nobody has to prepare dinner and we can all just have some fun!"

Judy had straightened up again in the meantime and took a small pill together with a large sip from her glass. "Sounds good to me, too" she smiled and tried not to turn a hair.

"Your chest again?" Nick whispered into her ear while the other rabbits were discussing what movie to start with. Judy nodded slowly, leaning against his upper body with a quiet sigh.

"Just give me a few minutes until the pill takes effect and I'm fine again" she smiled at him, tilting her head back. Nick gave her a soft kiss, feeling sorry that he could do nothing more to ease her pain.

Their first film was 'A Night at The Pawspurry', a rather old movie Nick had as a DVD and none of the rabbits knew: Some wealthy dogs named Steve and Doug enjoy frequenting nightclubs and fail miserably at picking up woman. Their dream is to party at the Pawspurry, a fabled nightclub where they are continually denied entrance by a bulldog bouncer, and hope to open their own club. An auto accident with a famous wolf and film-star gives them a foot in the door. Inside, they meet the club's owner, and two gold-diggers believe they are wealthy businessmen: Vivica, a Supermodel and Russian Wolfhound, and her friend Cambi try to work the Pawspurry Guys for their money; only to find out the pair is broke. Steve finds his father shoving him into marriage with the next-door neighbor, a poodle named Emily, but Doug keeps this from happening. Fortune smiles, and the two brothers become the co-owners of a new nightclub.

It was a hilarious but also quite disturbing 90 minutes of a movie – but with some good old music – and everyone had a lot of fun, Judy even taking another painkiller pill because the laughing made her chest hurt.

"Wow, those two head-bobbing losers really got a date in the end and their dream came true. That's even more unrealistic since those cartoon-musicals", Judy giggled.

"Yeah, and what two bombshells they are. One even working for the police. Hey, Nicky…" – Evelin grinned, "Was that movie some kind of plan or template for your relationship?"

"Are you suggesting me as a bombshell?", Judy asked snorting.

" _All I was hearing when I first saw you was 'Beeew, Beeew, Beeew', the ambulance came and took me away, 'cos the sight of you stopped my heart_ ", Nick quoted grinning.

Judy rolled her eyes: " _Can you believe I actually had sex with this sucker?_ "

"Actually", Clara giggled, "I could imagine him after he scored within 23 seconds, running out of the room and high-fiving his success.

"That's rather unfair", Nick smiled slyly. "Even if it only took half a minute, there would be no chance I would run outside immediately" – and when Clara looked questioningly with a grin, he turned to Judy: "You really never mentioned our ' _mandatory cuddling time_ ' to them?"

Judy's inner-ears tuned into some shade of red while the other rabbits were watching her closely.

"We will talk about that later", Evelin winked. "Okay, we still have time for another film. What about 50 Shades of Prey?" – Ralph laughed silently but Clara and Judy just looked at her in shock.

"S-Sorry, I don't think we have this movie in our library", Judy muttered.

"Only because, I'm not allowed to buy it. I've been curious for quite a while what all the fuss is about this movie", Nick muttered.

"Oh, I bet Ben will lend it to you!", Clara shouted but regretted it immediately.

"Ben?", Evelin and Nick were both watching her closely with a sly grin.

"We will talk about that later, too", Evelin promised with a wink.

They opened the electronic streaming archive of their cable provider and browsed through the available movies. The action movies were declined by the women, the romantic ones by the boys. It was Evelin's choice that decided the second movie: 'Cruel Intentions' – a movie Judy didn't protest against as she didn't know it yet:

Kathryn – a female puma – and Sebastian – a male cheetah – are seductive, manipulative step-siblings who get what they want, when they want it. Kathryn makes a bet with her step-brother: He must bed Annette, the doe and daughter of their school's headmaster, before the end of summer break. Annette has stated in a magazine that she would wait until love and marriage to sleep with another mammal. If Kathryn wins, she gets Sebastian's vintage Porsche. If Sebastian wins, he gets Kathryn – the only mammal he knows he'll never have. Also in play is Cecile, a naïve rabbit whose mother had enlisted Kathryn to help her fit in at her new school. However, Kathryn (with Sebastian's help) plans to ruin Cecile's reputation as revenge on Kat's ex-boyfriend, who left her for Cecile.

Calling the movie suggestive would be a large understatement; a lot of scenes caused Judy to wince in embarrassment while the others just snickered, if at all. The rather sad end made our police-bunny shake her head.

"This Kathryn is such a manipulative beast!", Judy rebelled. "And that's why drugs are banned!", she winked.

"Oh, she wasn't a manipulative, sex-crazed puma just because of the drugs, Juju", Evelin declared. "And you really didn't know of this movie before? It's one of the first one's addressing inter-species-sex after the big taboo was raised 20 years ago!"

"Showing Cecile as a naïve little rabbit was rather unfair!" Judy pouted, "This prejudice is even enforced."

"Oh, the only enforced part is the sex in Part Three of the movie between the gazelle and the wolf, as far as I remember", Evelin frowned thoughtfully.

"Are you joking!?" Judy stared at her.

"Well, it's kind of enforced: The gazelle has a boyfriend but is blackmailed with pictures the wolf made while she was having a one-night-stand with a tiger…"

"Okay, we are not watching this movie now, too! I have to assimilate this first part first", Judy rolled her eyes and leaned against Nick – and recoiled at once with a terrified look at the small bulge in his lap. The fox didn't say anything, but they both re-positioned quickly. With little success, as she could still hear his excited heartbeat.

"I think in the end Kathryn got what she deserved, and Sebastian sacrificing himself for Annette is indeed really sad, but how Annette is on his side afterwards and ensured that everyone learned about his step-sister's real nature, is just poetic justice. Even with Cecile playing a naïve rabbit, I like her role. Oh, and she definitively seems to have fun with the cheetah", Clara said.

Judy and Nick exchanged a look on that last sentence, then looked back to Clara with a big, sly grin.

"You have to know it", Nick winked at Clara who suddenly got a sheepish look herself, attracting Evelin's attention.

"What are you talking about?", she asked curiously.

"Nothing!" Clara declared with a death stare, throwing another pillow to a grinning Nick and Judy. Before it could hit the rabbit's chest, Nick put his arm around her, blocking it and turning his head to Clara with an urging voice:

"Please, be a bit more careful. You know, her broken ribs are really painful".

"Okay, I would suggest that we order some pizza now and after that we could still play some games. What do you think?", Ralph eagerly rubbed his belly. "I have to admit, I'm quite hungry again."

Nick got off the couch, fetching some prospects for delivery services. He also brought some pencils and sticky notes, putting them on the table – ' _for later'_ , he stated. They studied the menu and decided on two big family pizza's, both with mixed toppings.

"And what should we do while we wait for them to be delivered?", Judy asked the group.

"This is what I brought the sticky notes for", Nick winked. "We write the name of any mammal – real or fictional – on a note without you seeing what we are writing. Then we stick it on your forehead and you have to guess with yes/no questions who you are! If we have to answer with 'yes', you can ask another question, otherwise it's the next Mammal's turn. Of course, we write small notes for everyone…"

"Sounds funny!", Evelin grinned and grabbed some sticky notes. "And I already have a perfect idea for you…" – she wrote something on a note and applied it to Clara's forehead: 'MOM' – resulting in quite some giggling within the others.

"OK, I'm next!", Ralph took the notices, wrote 'Nick' on it and applied it to Nick's forehead, resulting in much more giggling and an irritated look by the fox.

"Fine, but then I'm next", Nick said and applied a sticky note to Evelin's head, reading 'Judy', which caused non-stop giggling.

"Oh dear…", Evelin said with a grin but then applied a note to Judy's head reading ' _Cecile_ '. Last one was Judy, who applied a note with 'Gideon' on Ralph's forehead. As they were all sitting in a circle and looking at each other with a grin, Evelin snickered: "That will be funny!"

"The youngest rabbit begins", Nick winked, looking to Evelin.

"Well, am I a rabbit?" – "Yes, you are", the fox answered.

"Female?" – some laughing by the others, "Yepp".

"One of the Hopps' family?" – "Yes!", Ralph replied.

"Single?" – "No, sorry", Ralph snickered.

"OK, who is next? Clara!", Evelin stated.

"Me? Well… I'm a prey?" – "Yes", Nick nodded.

"Rabbit?" – "Oh yes", a few snickered.

"Female?" – "Yepp", Judy said.

"Married?" – "Definitely!", Evelin snickered.

Clara gasped: "Am I pregnant?" – that caused a moment of silence and the others were facing each other. "Uhm…", Evelin replied thoughtfully, "Not as far as we know!" – Clara stopped short and Ralph was next:

"Obvious question first, am I a rabbit?" – "No!", most others giggled and Ralph furrowed.

"Nick, you're next", Judy grinned and the fox looked thoughtfully.

"I'm not a rabbit, right?" – "Correct, foxy", Evelin answered.

"Am I a predator?" – "Not really, but as a species… yes", Judy grinned.

"Oh, great. I'm a winey fox, right?", Nick rolled his eyes and all others laughed: "Yes".

"Well, you don't know too many foxes… am I good looking?", he grinned. "That's a very subjective question, foxtrot" Judy said and Evelin added: "You are not a scarecrow, but also not as good looking as you are thinking yourself".

Nick sighed, "I hate to be myself…"

The others giggled and removed the notice from Nick's head. "Congratulations, sly fox", Judy gave him a quick kiss and grinned.

"You can go next, carrots", he winked.

"Rabbit?" – "Yes", Ralph grinned.

"Female?" – "Definitely", Clara added.

"Hopps?" – "Meep, sorry", Evelin grinned and was next to ask the next question again:

"Well, I'm a female Hopps' rabbit that is married… pregnant?" – "Yepp", Ralph grinned.

"Having birthday in a few hours?" – Judy grinned and nodded.

"Aww, I always wanted to be you!", Evelin giggled and took the note from her head.

"Okay, I am a female, married rabbit and you don't think that I'm pregnant", Clara continued. "Hopps' family?" – "Definitely!", Evelin snickered.

"Older than Evelin?" – "Yes", Judy nodded.

"Okay, that leaves it to Jana and Jane – as I'm definitely not married myself and Judy is pregnant" – "Sorry, dear. None of them", Ralph shrugged his shoulders and grinned.

"I'm still a bit clueless… only knowing I'm no rabbit. Am I a predator than?", Ralph asked curious. "Yes, you are", Judy nodded with a grin.

"Lucky shot… a fox?" – "Good guess, yes, you are!", Clara giggled.

"Nick's mother?" – Nick's face was a dead pan but the others were hysterically laughing: "No, definitely not!"

Judy sighed, "Okay… I'm a female rabbit, but not from the Hopps family. There are not a lot of rabbits outside the family we are all knowing by name. Am I a fictional character?" – "Yes, my little innocent carrot, you are", Nick grinned.

Judy thought for a while, then widened her eyes: "You didn't, did you?"

"Did what?", Evelin snickered.

"What was the naïve little rabbit in the movie called again? Cecile!" – Judy pouted when the others clapped their paws and slowly removed her notice. "I'm no naïve little rabbit!", she muttered.

"OK, I'm next again. But I'm at a loss currently… female, married Hopps rabbit, older than Evelin, most likely not pregnant and neither Jana nor Jane. But there are no other Hopps rabbits other than… oh… OH! That's nasty! I'm Mom, right?", Clara looked indignant but then started to laugh.

"Well, that leaves me as the last one… I'm a fox, but not Nick's mother! Is Judy pregnant from me?" he grinned, resulting in broad laughter from Evelin and Clara, and a dumb look from Judy and Nick.

"OK, most probably not…", Ralph muttered with a grin. "But I would guess then, that I'm Gideon", he winked and a still laughing Evelin removed his note from his forehead.

"Another round until the pizza arrives?" Judy suggested and they allocated new notices to everybody again.

* * *

They interrupted their game when the pizza arrived half an hour later and shared the different types of toppings amongst themselves. Most slices of the pizzas were eaten by Evelin and Judy, closely followed by Nick. But even his hunger was nothing compared to that of two pregnant bunnies. Ralph and Clara were already content with two big slices and sharing the third one.

After their dinner, Nick disappeared into the kitchen for half an hour while the rabbits were talking about all kinds of different things, browsing through the photo album Judy made, touching and caressing Evelin's pregnant belly, talking further about the idea of some siblings visiting Judy and Nick for a week in the future to watch after their kits. Judy really loved the idea, but would have never suggested it on her own.

Just as they were getting unsettled and Judy wanted to shout for Nick, the fox entered the living room again with a large tablet and five big cocktail glasses with colorful content and decoration.

"I thought I could try to be creative again", he winked. "One virgin caipirinha for Evelin and a safer Sex on the beach for carrots … a Long Island Ice Tea for Clara and a Tequila Sunrise for Ralph", he put the drinks in front of them and took a Sex on the beach for himself. "I worked at a small Cocktail Bar on the Sahara Strip for a while a few years ago, hopefully I didn't forget too much", he winked.

They clinked their glasses with best wishes for the soon-to-be mothers and for their upcoming birthday and that they managed to all have this great evening together. After everyone took a few sips from their drink, Nick was showered with honors. They started another game: Munchkin, with the pirate and zombie extension:

Munchkin is a dedicated deck card game that has a humorous take on role-playing games. All players start at level 1 with the goal of reaching level 10. Players primarily progress by killing monsters, and level up every time they kill a monster. However, players can freely use cards against monsters and other players during play, allowing them to either assist or to sabotage others during their turn. Due to the highly competitive nature of the game and the presence of rule-breaking cards, players are encouraged to use unfair tactics against others, to act mercilessly to further themselves at the expense of others, or to use cheat cards to affect outcomes (such as fixing the roll of the die).

You could think that the nature of the game was cut out for Nick, but the bunnies turned out to be even more shifty and sneaky than the fox. It was a long and sharp contest, but Evelin won the first round – together with Judy, playing the card ' _Enough brain for two_ '. Of course, Nick was seeking revenge, and demanded that the winner of two out of three games would decide what game to play next. A bad decision as it turned out: He tried to sabotage Evelin's achievements, but just to tease him all others were supporting her and keeping Nick on low levels while Evelin was soon winning again.

"How humiliating to lose, of all the games, this one as a fox!" he sighed, but smiled and shook Evelin's paw. "Congratulations, sly bunny!"

"So, I get to decide the next game?", Evelin slyly grinned while they all bundled the cards of Munchkin back together.

"I guess so. Something special on your mind?", Ralph asked, sipping on his Tequila Sunrise, already feeling a bit dizzy.

"You bet", Evelin winked. "Let's play truth or dare!"

Judy groaned quietly, she always happened to be Evelin's victim on this game. Ralph and Clara were a bit too enthusiastic, and Nick made a mental note to reduce the alcoholic parts of their cocktails the next time.

"Fine with me, I have nothing to hide", Nick winked and added to his mental note some reduced alcohol for his own drink, too.

"We will see, foxy!", Evelin winked and searched for something that could be used as a bottle or spinning needle. She finally took a carrot from a basket, bit off the green bunch of foliage and gave the small carrot a test-spin on the table. "Perfect! And as you lost the last game, you may begin the new one", she winked at Nick.

"Let's see…", Nick gave the carrot a powerful spin and it landed on Clara.

"Oh, that was sooo obvious!" she giggled, "Okay I choose 'Dare' – didn't drink enough for the truth, yet", she winked.

Nick smirked, "You have to pretend to be a snake and wiggle over our floor for a minute."

Clara got off the couch, wiggling over the floor without using her arms and legs, just moving her body back and forth. When she finished, she stuck out her head at the table and hissed at Nick with a grin, resulting in even more laughter.

"Okay, so I'm next!", she declared and gave the carrot another spin – the vegetable pointed to Judy, who immediately declared ' _truth_ '. "Well, bunny-cop…", Clara winked at her, "Did you ever steal some money from your brothers, sisters or parents?"

"No! Of course not!", Judy pouted indignantly, then spun the carrot. When it pointed to Nick she grinned: "Truth or Dare, foxtrot?"

Nick thought for a moment, "I'll play it safe with you being in charge…", he raised his eyebrows with a wink. "Dare!"

"Okay, then you have to hop around the table like a real rabbit", Judy winked and Nick got off the couch and making some halfhearted jumps. "No, no, no! No rabbit is jumping like this! Make it… smooth!"

While the others were already laughing, Nick squatted, slowly shook his butt and tail, then leaped about twenty centimeters ahead, landing again with squatted legs. He repeated that for about two minutes until he finally completed going around the whole table and let himself fall tired on the couch. "That's really exhausting!" He slowly grabbed the carrot and spun it – and it landed on Evelin.

"Truth", she said sweetly.

"Mh…", Nick thought for a moment. "On which piece of furniture did you make love on the last time?"

Judy breathed sharply, Ralph and Clara giggled but Evelin and Nick were just smiling slyly at each other, without flinching.

"While swimming in the pool at our parent's house", she said nonchalantly, already spinning the carrot again, it now pointing to Judy. "Truth or dare, sis?"

Judy had wide eyes and wasn't sure what to do: "Dare, just to be sure."

Evelin smiled: "You will have to eat a piece of chocolate" – Judy already smiled relieved, then Evelin continued: "After Clara had licked on it!"

"What?!", Judy stared at her sister.

"You've already had a lot of other things in your mouth, I'm sure. Let's just begin with this chocolate for now", Evelin winked.

Clara was already licking on a bar of chocolate and held it to Judy who sighed and ate it finally. "You will be sorry for that, sis", Judy flashed her eyes at Evelin, who just giggled.

When she spun the carrot, it landed on Ralph who was still giggling and chose 'Truth': "When did you last kiss another rabbit?"

"Today at the station, I kissed you as a welcome!", he grinned and Judy rolled her eyes.

"Kissed another rabbit in a sexual way!", she added.

"Oh, that would be just before we left Bunnyburrow this morning. I gave Mel a kiss goodbye", he winked and took the carrot, spinning it quite powerfully. When it landed on Evelin again, she said 'Truth' again and Ralph thought about a question. "Hm… as you and Judy share nearly everything, have you also seen Nick naked yet?"

Her answer was quick and unexpected: "Yes" – Ralph and Clara both looked surprised, Judy rolled her eyes and Nick snickered quietly.

"Would you like to … explain this?", Ralph suggested curiously.

"On the day I came for a visit to tell Judy that I'm going to get married, he was clearly not expecting any visitors and stood naked in the living room". Evelin winked at the fox while Ralph and Clara snickered even more.

"Did you like what you saw?" Clara asked grinning, but Evelin shook her head.

"Only one question per turn, sis", she winked and spun the carrot. When it pointed to Clara, the rabbit quietly said 'truth'. Evelin started to grin widely: "Do you currently have a girl- or boyfriend here in Zootopia?"

"I...", Clara started nervously, her muzzle twitching furiously. "I-I… don't know if you can already call him that. We are just friends and currently learning more about each other", Clara took a – dangerously big – sip from her cocktail and rubbed her ears nervously between her paws.

Ralph had to nudge her with a grin to remember her that she now was spinning the carrot. It landed on Judy.

"Truth…", Judy grinned.

"How many bunnies have you seen naked – excluding our family?", Clara grinned at her.

"I-I…", she spoke with a stammer and quickly took a sip from her – unfortunately – non-alcoholic cocktail. "E-Excluding all of our family… no others", her voice dropped to little more than a whisper. Evelin and Clara giggled while Ralph was looking at his sister with a soft smile.

"I don't think that's a bad thing, sis. Don't mind your jealous sisters, you found your prince charming nevertheless", Ralph winked.

Judy smiled thankfully and spun the carrot – pointing it to Ralph.

"Truth!", he said with a smile.

"How many litters do you have planned with Mel?", Judy asked.

"We are currently having three, but Mel and I agreed that we want at least five. But probably not more than seven. Still working on number four", he winked and the others giggled.

When he spun the carrot and it landed on Nick, the fox decided for the 'truth' and Ralph asked: "Earlier this evening you referred to mandatory cuddle time while we were watching 'A Night at the Pawspurry' – I think now is the perfect time for you to explain that", he winked.

Nick looked a bit surprised and his ears straightened up. When he shared a quick look with Judy, her looks were telling him "You maneuvered yourself into this, now live with it!"

"Well…", he started while rubbing his neck and taking a big sip from his Sex on the Beach. "It's just some … anatomical fox thing."

"We are all ears", Evelin grinned widely while Ralph and Clara giggled quietly. Judy wished, she could drink at least one glass of wine or take a large sip of any cocktail. The following explanation would be embarrassing and she had not even told Evelin about it until now.

"While our…", Nick took a deep breath and started again. "When a fox is on the brink of … finishing his sexual act, his … you know, penis… swells considerably".

"Shouldn't it swell _before_ you start?", Clara giggled.

"No… Yes… I mean, it becomes erect, of course. But the later swelling prevents the fox from becoming loose directly after. Both partners stay connected and have to wait for… the swelling to go away. It's something in our biology, I cannot do anything against it. And as it lasts for 20-30 minutes, we just call it our ' _mandatory cuddle time_ '". When Nick finished, his fur was even more red than usual and the rabbits – except Judy – were grinning widely at him.

"I wish we could introduce this for male rabbits, too!", Evelin snickered and Clara nodded laughing:

"Yes, that would make things way more romantic!"

Before they could talk even more about the subject, Nick spun the carrot on the table. When it pointed to Judy, she sighed and made a short gesture with her paw: "Dare".

Nick smiled softly, "Don't worry. I will be merciful to you… just show us the last pictures on your phone". While Judy was fumbling in her pockets for the phone, Evelin started to laugh hysterically. As Nick was thinking about the pictures they made in the park yesterday, he didn't quite understand what was so funny. It also took Judy a few seconds: When she couldn't find her phone in her pockets, it was like she was struck by lightning.

"I think it's still on the soap tray in your shower, Juju…", Evelin winked helpfully and Nick raised his eyebrows.

Judy got off the couch, quickly walked to the bathroom and when she returned she stared on the phone screen, browsing through the last pictures from today. "No way!" she pressed the screen against her body and her muzzle and inner ears had a light-red color.

"Come on, you cannot chicken out!" Evelin giggled and just when Judy wanted to argue with her, Nick quickly grabbed the phone from her paw and grinned.

"It couldn't be worse than my last confession, so just let me see…" – he stopped midsentence when he browsed through the first two pictures Evelin had made of her after she had undressed Judy completely under the shower. Those were definitely the first pictures of adult Judy naked he had ever seen. Nick browsed to the next picture and saw Judy's abashed face while standing fully-clothed under the shower. Another swipe with his paw and he coughed nervously, covering the screen immediately with his paw and looking embarrassed first to Judy, then to Evelin. "That… turned in a complete different direction than I intended, I swear!", he stuttered and put the phone with the display down on the table.

Ralph and Clara tried to grab it at the same time, but already being too dizzy, Clara missed and Ralph got hold of the phone. When he turned the display back on, he saw the kinky photo of Evelin posing in the shower and raised his eyebrows. "Nice one, Eve!", he smiled. "But I like the one with the smiley on your belly made of foam from last week even more". He browsed through the other pictures and had to laugh on Judy's abashed look, fully clothed. "You misunderstood the concept of a shower, sis", he winked. Another swipe and he saw the picture of Judy standing naked in the shower, but without any posing. "A little less belly and not as confident in her posing as Eve, but you sure still look as beautiful as I would have imagined". Clara, who was looking over his shoulder, gaped: "Wow, you really have some trained abs and leg muscles, Ju! But you should train your posture, you're posing like a sack of spuds, not the sexy bunny you are! Oh, I really envy your slender waist!"

Judy was looking defeated and even a bit reproachful to Nick.

"Sorry, carrots…?", he tried not to giggle and put his arm around her shoulders. "But to be fair, those are some really beautiful photos of you and definitely nothing to be ashamed of", he gave her a lovingly kiss and Judy smiled a bit.

"Thanks…"

Beep-Beep … Nick's phone was quietly notifying some incoming messages and Evelin grinned, having Judy's phone in her paws. "Don't worry, I send them to you for later admiration". Judy grabbed her phone protesting while Nick was laughing together with Clara and Ralph. Seconds later, his phone notified him about another message. He turned his head to Judy who was holding her phone again and smiled slyly.

"I hope you don't worry that I send him yours, too. I think it's only fair, after everyone else but him already had a close look".

When Judy wanted to intimidate Evelin with this, it didn't work. Her sister was just starting to laugh: "Oh, Juju. If anyone of you wants to admire my body, you don't have to rely on a photo. You could have just asked…" – and with this words she took off her shirt, revealing her white bra she undid in a second.

Nick didn't say anything, just stared at the half-naked bunny that was sitting opposite him. Even Judy couldn't answer and just looked at Evelin with a slightly open mouth, not sure how to react. It took a few seconds, then Eve stood up from the couch. She walked up to her sister, putting her arms around her neck, then leaning in to kiss her… twenty-one, twenty-two, twenty-three, …

When Evelin leaned back again and grinned to Judy, the other rabbit's face was a mess of emotions – but Nick was sure, it pleased her! – and Evelin whispered not-too-quiet, crawling over her cheeks: "Happy Birthday, Juju!"

It took Nick a few more seconds to break his looks away and searched for the wall-clock: It was exactly one minute after midnight, Evelin's timing was perfect. He walked up to Clara and Ralph, hugging each of them eagerly and with a wide smile – wishing them both happy birthday. Evelin had dressed her shirt again by now and hugged Ralph and Clara, too. Nick walked in the meantime up to Judy, who had somewhat recovered from Evelin's act, hugged her carefully and gave her an affectionate kiss: "Happy Birthday, carrots. May all your wishes come true!"

* * *

They played for about two more hours, but around 1 o'clock Ralph and Clara were already too tired to pay full attention. The cocktails weren't extremely strong, but enough for small rabbits – Nick would have his eyes on them tomorrow when they were in the Hollow Bar. Even when it was unlikely, he didn't want to risk that any of the rabbits was taken advantage of while drunk.

After the other litter-siblings were sleeping in the guest bed, Nick insisted on Evelin sleeping with Judy in their bedroom and he would just sleep on the couch. When the rabbits said good-night to him, and all lights were off, he already regretted his decision. Even when Judy was just a few meters away, he now had to sleep alone. But it was okay, he tried to persuade himself – her scent was still ever-present. He just had to close his eyes and think about something different…

Judy was sitting on her bed, together with Evelin. They were both still talking and giggling about the last hours. After a while, Judy got off the bed and first undressed, then pulled over a nightgown, much to Evelin's amusement.

"You are really wearing such a thing at night?" she giggled.

"Only when I'm sleeping alone or in the same bed with someone other than Nick", Judy winked at her.

Evelin rolled her eyes and got off the bed herself. After she undressed, she looked around but obviously couldn't find a nightgown in her own bag. While Judy was crawling on the bed again, Eve suddenly saw something to pull over…

"What by the green carrot you doing?" Judy stared laughing at Evelin, who had pulled over Judy's police uniform top and was just closing her utility belt over her naked waist.

"I'm Judy Hopps and I'm making the world a better place!", Evelin imitated Judy's voice really convincingly while jumping onto the bed. Judy was still laughing and Evelin grinned at her. "And you are a really bad rabbit!"

"I don't think so", Judy held her stomach still laughing and stuck out her tongue to her younger sister. "You on the other side are arrogating the rights of a police officer when wearing this uniform. Better get it off or I have to eventually arrest you", Judy giggled.

"Arrest me… with those?", Evelin spun one end of the handcuffs around her finger and winked.

"Exactly!" – Judy tried to leap forward and grab the handcuffs from Evelin, but her sister was faster; and when Judy landed on the bed again, her left paw was already handcuffed. "Hey! That's not fair!"

"You're right… here, have the key…", Evelin smiled and handed her the closed paw. When Judy tried to grab for it, Evelin held her tight and within seconds handcuffed her other paw. Evelin giggled: "Being a cop is easier than I thought".

"You're not a cop, you're just a mean little sister!", Judy smiled with a chuckle. "Okay, well played. Now give me the key so we can both go to bed, Eve".

"Oh, come on… I'm just starting to have some fun!", she snickered.

"Eve!" – Judy urged her but her sister was already pulling Judy's handcuffed arms over her head and hung them up on one of the bedpost.

"Just admit, that you liked our kiss earlier, and I will let you go", Evelin winked, squatting over Judy's body, but her sister just laughed.

"That would please you, wouldn't it? Nope, I was just …. caught by surprise, that's all!"

"Oh, that's just too bad. Maybe I have to… convince you further", she started to slowly pull up Judy's nightgown and eventually kissed her belly.

"Eve!", Judy urged her again, but less earnestly now.

"What in the dickens is going on?" Nick entered the bedroom with sleepy eyes, then watched puzzled between Judy and Evelin.

"Just a police interrogation?" Evelin suggested with a naughty smile, still having Judy's uniform top on.

"Nick! Could you please help me and release my paws?" Judy sighed with relief when she saw her fox. With a shake of his head Nick approached them both, searching for the keys for the handcuffs on his utility belt. When he started to open Judy's handcuffs, Evelin grinned and put her paw on her side.

"How boring, that opened up so many possibilities. But you always have to be her knight in shining armor!"

When Judy's paws were finally free again, she gave Nick a kiss on his cheek and smiled, while taking the handcuffs. "Thank you, foxtrot."

"You are welcome, carrots", he chuckled.

"That could have been a really fun night, Juju", Evelin winked at her.

Judy hugged her smiling, patting her on the back. "I'm sorry, but you really have to undress this uniform…" – within a second she had handcuffed Evelin's paws behind her back and nudged her back onto the bed with a sly grin.

The younger rabbit was first surprised, but when laying on the bed with her paws handcuffed behind her back, she grinned. "I don't think so, it's really comfy! And I don't think you have the guts to force-undress me…" she winked with a wide grin.

Judy posed beside the bed, smiling slyly. "Maybe you are right, but there are ways and means…" – she turned around to Nick and smiled as sweet as sugar: "Darling, I wonder whether you could handle that for me?"

Nick snickered and turned around to Evelin who was looking at them with big eyes. When Nick kneeled over her body, she smiled – but less confidently than before. "Don't you dare, foxy! Your wife is watching", she winked – but Nick just shrugged and quickly undressed her, opening only one handcuff at a time to retrieve the arm from the uniform, then handcuffing her again.

"As good as new, carrots", Nick smiled and held the uniform back to Judy.

"She still has those photos of me on her phone… I think you should convince her to delete them again, don't you?" Judy smiled smugly and Nick nodded with a smile.

When he turned around to Evelin, he slowly let his claws come from his paws and crawled over her body. "We two have something to discuss… darling…"

The moment he reached her thighs, she winced and said terrified: "You don't have to do that!"

He slowly grabbed both her tights, whispering: "Maybe. But don't worry, I will be gentle…. less or more!", lowering his sharp teeth with his tongue slowly licking over his lips, whispering quietly: "Carrots…"

* * *

When Judy blinked slowly, she felt that her fur was soaked with sweat and she heard her own heart palpitating like crazy. Her whole body was shivering, one of her paws crawling over her chest, the other one between her legs. ' _Carrots…_ ' – she heard Nick's voice again, sounding sore and begging. Yes, she wanted him to do it, her whole body was shaking again…

The fox was still carefully shaking her on the shoulder and finally she slowly seemed to wake up, blinking a few more times.

"W-What…?" she breathed shallow.

"You are dreaming, carrots… and whatever it is you were dreaming, you are driving me totally crazy for the last half-an-hour!"

Judy was still not fully aware what happened, just regretting to be half-awake now. "Just do it, Nick…" – she moaned silently with pleasure.

Nick closed his eyes, breathing deeply and trying to ignore his bunny's scent right now. "You are still dreaming, Judy!", he whimpered quietly and eventually decided to bite her gently into her ears.

With a moan of pleasure and pain, Judy winced and her eyes finally blinked awakened. When she eventually realized that she had only dreamed the whole scene and was still pleasuring herself right now, she straightened herself embarrassed in bed with a start, grimacing because of the sudden pain that whitewashed all pleasant feelings.

"Sweet cheese and crackers…", she panted quietly, holding her chest in pain and all kind of strange images were dashing through her mind. She now remembered, that Evelin was sleeping with her siblings in the guestroom, not with her in this bed. And she had never thought of being together with Nick and her at the same time before now! What kind of strange dream was that?!

"Carrots…?", Nick spoke quietly, sounding worried and very concentrated; he was sitting beside her in their bed. She turned around startled, starring at her fox like he was still a part of her dream that didn't vanished.

"Are you really there?", she put her paws on his muzzle and stroked him softly, then smiled when he didn't vanish. But Nick's pupils dilated, he took a long and deep sniff with his nose and wheezed groveling. Judy's chest pain was slowly eclipsed again by the backwash of her dream and Nick's current reaction of her scent; she grinned slyly, crawling along his neck and back, alternating between nibbling and kissing him fondly, until Nick finally lost the last vestiges of self-control and eventually threw her onto the bed. The dull pain and blazing pleasure made her shiver and moan again.

It was nearly half an hour later when they both were cuddling together, panting exhausted. Judy kept a stiff upper lip despite her chest pain, that was vaguely throbbing, but it was nearly covered by all other feelings.

"I hope the reality could live up to whatever you were dreaming, carrots", Nick whispered quietly, stroking her head and ears. Judy winced embarrassed and avoided looking in his direction. "Judy? Is everything okay?" The rabbit nodded slowly and Nick didn't probe any further.

"Nick?", she finally whispered insecurely.

"What is it, carrots? You can talk with me about anything, I will neither laugh nor adjudge you. Promise". He smilingly gave her a soft kiss between her ears and she snuggled even tighter against his chest.

"That was such a strange dream…"

"Well, maybe strange things are teasing you?", he snickered. "At least, you married _me_!"

She giggled and crawled over his chest. "You are as normal as a mayflower compared to this dream."

"Just forget about it, then… or you may tell me about it, just to get it out of your mind."

"Well, it started when we all decided to go to bed, and you offered to sleep on the couch so Evelin could sleep with me in our bed."

"That's exactly what I suggested, carrots", Nick winked.

"Yes, but rather than sleeping in the guest room together with Ralph and Clara, Evelin accepted your offer in my dream…"

"Aww, two cute little bunnies together in our bed. I would love to witness this!", he snickered.

"In my dream, you did. But I will never work up the courage to finish if you interrupt me continuously!", she winked and gave him a small kiss. After a few seconds, she eventually continued…

* * *

When Evelin entered the kitchen in the morning, she was surprised to find Nick already preparing some breakfast.

"Hey, foxy! Already up so early?"

"Good morning, Eve!" Nick tried to balance some plates and mugs. "Just preparing breakfast for our birthday rabbits".

The rabbit snickered and took the cups from Nick's paws. "I had the same idea. Could I still help you?"

"You're a guest, too! Just sit down and lean back while I …"

"…turn potential pancakes into carbon?" Evelin snickered and quickly pulled the pan from the stove, dark smoke already starting to fill the kitchen.

"Oh dear", Nick made a frustrated face. "I admit I might be somewhat overchallenged right now".

"Don't worry, you're down but not out, yet", she winked. "But what is that _great_ smell?" she sniffed at the stove door.

Nick scurried to the oven and carefully opened the door, but only some sweet smell and steam escaped. "Phew, just in time!" – he took some oven cloth and pulled a baking plate out of the oven. "Those are Madeleines made by a family recipe, I trained with my mother every week for two months. You are always making so many great things, I just felt compelled to contribute something of my own".

"They smell and look delicious, Nicky!" Evelin smiled impressed. Then with a side look to the pan: "But you still wanted to make some pancakes?"

"Well, I've no idea if those Madeleines are edible, and it couldn't hurt to have a bit of a selection, it's their birthday after all", Nick smiled and put the small cakes from the baking plate onto a porcelain dish.

"Most likely they are more edible than those burned remains", she pointed to the pancakes and winked. "Your Madeleines smell great, don't worry. But if you still insist on making some pancakes, just let me take care of it".

When Judy entered the kitchen a short while later, Nick and Evelin were sitting at the table and giggling together.

"Am I intruding?" she asked with a light smirk, approaching Nick and giving him a kiss.

"Even though, you are always welcomed, Juju", Evelin snickered and hugged her older sister.

"I hope so!", Judy sat beneath Nick and scented the tea. "Ah, fresh chai. Since when do you drink such exotic blends, sis?" – she poured some tea in her own cup and added two table spoons of sugar.

"Nick suggested that this has been your favorite blend for a while now and that I may like it, too. It's really exotic compared to our herbal and fruit tea in Bunnyburrow. But it's tasty, good choice".

The older bunny took a quick sip from her cup and sighed with pleasure. "One of the advantages of living in the big city, sis", Judy smiled at her.

"And shopping malls!" Evelin grinned. "We absolutely have to go shopping today, I have no fitting dress for this evening! And I think I'm starting to notice a little bigger belly on you, too. The only cocktail dress you own will not fit you anymore, neither".

Nick rolled his eyes and said sarcastically: "A shopping trip with two pregnant bunnies, that will be a gas!"

"Did I hear 'shopping trip with my sisters'?", Clara leant on the door frame, yawning but grinning widely. Ralph was standing behind her, smiling with as much pleasant anticipation as Nick did just moments ago, too. "I need to gather my strength ahead of that! Do you have some tea and pancakes for me, too?"

"Just take a seat, I will bring you your breakfast in a second", Nick winked and got off his chair. When he returned from the kitchen, he carried a silver plate decorated with paper streamers and confetti – and three small plates, each with a Madeleine powdered with icing sugar and a burning birthday candle: " _(singing, together with Evelin)_ Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! Happy Birthday dear litter-two, happy birthday to you!"

Ralph, Clara und Judy grinned and clapped their hands and each took a small cake – hesitating a short moment with clothed eyes – and finally blowing out their candles.

"Those smell great!" Judy nosed it and Clara nodded asking Evelin: "Are those Madeleines? Did you try a new recipe?" – Ralph was already biting in his and moaned with pleasure.

"Sorry, guys – those are made by Nick, I wasn't even in attendance while he made them but enjoying a hot shower", Eve grinned.

"You?!" Judy and Clara asked simultaneously to Nick, Ralph just looked surprised with his mouth still full.

The fox put his paw on his chest, letting his shoulders sink and had a hurt look on his face. "You are killing me! I still have some pride and emotions! Well, at least I did until seconds ago…" he sighed.

Judy and Clara looked at each other, then leapt at Nick and each gave him a kiss on a cheek with a big smile – this time Evelin was prepared for it and took a photo at just the right moment and grinned. Ralph walked up to him and just patted his back.

"Thank you, Nick. You are still able to surprise me after all this time!", Judy snickered and bit into her mini-cake, moaning with pleasure again. Clara was already having her second bite and Ralph had finished his Madeleine by now.

"I'm glad the two months of practice with my mom were not wasted", Nick smiled. After putting down the silver plate he went to the kitchen and came back with a bowl full of half-a-dozen more Madeleines, offering Evelin and Ralph another one at once.

"Two months to learn a simple recipe? At this rate, you can take over kitchen service when we retire", Judy snickered and took another sip of tea.

"Do you want to try a cup of chai, too?", Nick looked questioningly at Clara and Ralph, ignoring Judy's comment with a small wink.

"Sure, why not", Clara smiled, still a bit tired and sat down together with Ralph.

* * *

Nick and Ralph were leaning on the handrail outside of a millinery, each one carrying a paper bag with garments and other small purchases of the girls. They had already spent five hours in one of Zootopia's biggest shopping malls, Ralph and Nick mostly tagging along behind the three sisters, standing or sitting in a corner or outside the shop, waiting. It wasn't even that they were beggaring themselves, most of the time they didn't buy anything or just some small things. Judy, Evelin and Clara were kidding around like teenagers, goading each other into even the wildest and craziest clothes to try on. After a while, Ralph suggested that he and Nick could just as well wait in one of the cafés and when none of the sisters objected, the two exhausted good brothers strolled to a small French Café on the ground level.

"It's unbelievable how much time women can spend just with trying on clothes they know a priori that they would never buy them. ' _Just to see what it looks like_ '. I mean… is this an attempt to wear us down or to test our patience?" – Ralph sighed, receiving a cup of tea and cookies from Nick who just returned from the counter.

The fox snickered, "Maybe, but Judy has a rather clearly laid out wardrobe. A few more fancy clothes won't do any harm. I really like it how she is unwinding with Evelin around this weekend".

Ralph took a sip from his tea, put a sugar cube into the cup and started to stir it. "I didn't want to touch upon the subject with her around, she would just shrug off", the rabbit said slowly. "How is she doing? I mean the injury and all that. Judy seems to process it well, but she would also never let any of us see her vulnerable".

Nick smiled softly, "Our little Miss invincible". He thought about it for a moment. "She barely talks about that day; I asked a few times but didn't want to pressurize her either. It was a jar for her to be confronted with the dangers of our job suddenly, for both of us. But she is still bound and determined to keep her chin up."

"That sounds exactly like Ju", Ralph smirked. "And her injuries? Don't they cause some complications regarding her pregnancy?"

"Broken ribs are quite painful and Judy always hesitates to take those prescribed painkillers. Moreover, it will still take a few weeks until it gets better again. Nevertheless, according to our doctor, it is not impairing the pregnancy – or vice versa. However, there are other possible intricacies with mixed-species pregnancies. The scientific community in this area have achieved some great successes over the last few years, but our physiology is still kinda different. It will make the whole process rather exhausting – and I bet that Judy will try to downplay it, thinking she has to cope with it on her own. For such a cute little bunny, she is really tenacious!" – Nick giggled.

"If you want to stand out from the masses in a family of a few hundred siblings, you have to be tenacious", Ralph winked with a grin. "But I know exactly what you mean. Did she ever tell you the story of how she walked home all alone from the other side of Bunnyburrow when she was only four years old?"

"No way!" Nick grinned. "What happened?"

"They were on a school excursion, learning all about evolution and how the relationship between prey and predator had changed. But of course, back then and in the countryside, there was still a lot of mistrust, especially in a town like Bunnyburrow where only a very small amount of predators were living at this time. Well, some schoolmates were arguing that prey should never trust predators, and our teacher was an old-school hare, eager to agree with those schoolmates. You know Granpop? Our teacher, Mister Gruber was exactly like him. Well, Judy always being the free spirit, argued that they were all wrong and that predator and prey are now living in harmony. That the problem was not their species but their attitude – and we were only four years old, as I already mentioned! Therefore, Judy got a reprimand and was not allowed to visit the rest of the exhibition. Moreover, because it was a long walk home and the bus wasn't there already, she should sit and wait in front of the town hall for the rest of the class to finish. However, when we all left the town hall an hour later, she was gone. Mister Gruber did nearly have a heart attack, and a few beatnik otters were making fun that they had hunted and mangled her, as she deserved it as a little prey alone on the streets. One of them even had a shred of her shirt and before Mister Gruber could get a hold of them, they ran away. The whole class was in distress, let alone our parents! The police and a few dozen volunteers were searching the whole town, and Judy? When Mom and Dad got home late that evening in tears, they found Judy playing with her siblings in the living room. She later told them, that those otters were really trying to beat her up to steal her little handbag that looked like the head of a rabbit. However, she fought them back with a large stick and finally ran away – walking home all alone for several kilometers through the fields. She had no idea, how much everyone was worried when she had suddenly be gone."

Nick listened carefully to Ralph and visualized the whole scene. He finally smiled softly, "She hasn't changed much since then. Always saying what she thinks, and ramming her head against the wall. Nevertheless, I am always trying to keep up with her, so she is not on her own anymore".

"Well, maybe you understand what made us all wonder when Judy announced you as her boyfriend back in the days. After everything that she had undergone with those otters, with Gideon, and several more incidents, … Judy announcing a relationship with a predator – even a fox – was quite shocking in the first place. I confess, I felt a bit of pity for our parents", Ralph snickered. "But it was always obvious to me that you have to be someone special for her, otherwise she would not bother with you, and not even a year later you two are married, we are best friends and you are as much a part of the Hopps' family as every other child of us is. You have no idea how glad I am that you and Judy met".

Nick blinked nervously and looked taken aback by the rabbit. "Wow… I… don't know what to say. You already know that I love you all, so I have no idea what I'm supposed to do now". He maybe sounded a bit pathetic, but Ralph grinned at him.

"Rendering a fox speechless is enough of an answer I think".

* * *

"I'm coming in if you don't step out of that changing booth immediately!" Evelin demanded while waiting together with Clara in front of the small changing cubicle.

"You stay where you are!" Judy exclaimed. "I'm still trying to figure out how this scrap of cloth could be worn as a dress. I had swimsuits that covered more of my fur than this thing!" she sounded a bit desperate.

Evelin rested on a small chair and just giggled while Clara rolled her eyes with a wide grin: "It's called a cocktail dress, sis. You are supposed to look sexy in this, not like you're going for a walk in Tundratown!"

"You're joking, right? This is just some kind of underwear and you have just forgotten to hand me the dress, too" she sighed.

"I'm counting to three, Juju…" Evelin stood up from her chair with a grin.

"Oh, come on! The cloth on the front has a low cut nearly to my belly and is partly transparent, on the back there isn't even some cloth above my scut, and the dress is ending well above my knees!" Judy complained, still hiding behind the curtain.

"Three!" Evelin said impatiently and with a jolt, she drew the curtain of the changing booth open, revealing Judy eyeing herself in the mirror.

"Oh my goodness!" Clara exclaimed out of sheer joy. "I knew you were hiding a gorgeous body under all those granny-clothes of yours!"

"At least I don't feel as naked when wearing them as I do now!" Judy turned around to face both her sisters.

"Be glad that your belly is still rather flat, without knowing it, your pregnancy isn't necessary noticeable. I would need more cloth to hide only my belly than your dress contains", Evelin snickered, having a long look at Judy.

"What dress?! I only see an oversized shawl with holes in it! It's hardly covering my chest!"

"I thought you wanted something that isn't constraining your chest too much because of your ribs?" Clara giggled.

Evelin was tickling with her paw over Judy's back and her sister winced. "Perfect for some cuddling while dancing", she exclaimed with a grin. "But seriously, Juju. Compared to your usual clothing style this might seem a bit extreme, but it is really a beautiful dress and you are looking absolutely gorgeous in it. It'll feel a bit odd at first, but with your build you can be much more confident". Evelin was twitching here and there on the shoulders, sleeves and front until she was satisfied and nodded. "By the way, you are not going to wear a sports-bra with this dress tonight, too…" she pointed to Judy's chest with a grin.

"You are killing me, Eve!" Judy whined with a desperate look into the mirror again.

"I can think of something better …" Evelin winked at her while biting on her lip with a sly grin. "Apropos devouring, you already saw your litter-sisters dress?" she grinned and pointed to Clara who was wearing a revealing dress made of a black-transparent cloth with just opaque spots and stripes in a dark red-brown color; resembling the pattern of a tiger-cheetah-mix.

While Clara was presenting herself with a proud grin, Judy mumbled: "Sweet cheese and crackers", then looked to Evelin and her dress: It was in a dark blue and shoulder-less, but while it still covered her belly, it had a low cut on the back and covered most of her legs. "Why are you allowed to wear this, while Clara and I are half-naked? That's unfair!"

"It's somewhat difficult to find something really sexy when you are in the last quarter of pregnancy, sis. But you will experience this sufficiently early I guess" Evelin winked.

"Maybe I should try on something different, I'm feeling a bit off-color in this … touch of nothing" Judy sighed with a last look into the mirror; but this time she was even smiling a bit and admiring herself somewhat.

"We are celebrating our 26th birthday, Jude, and this time we are not in Bunnyburrow, where everyone would look at us judgmentally for being magnificent ladies, but in Zootopia! Just savor all the looks you will get this one time. We will have a great time, I promise!" Clara had approached the other two bunnies and put her paw on Judy's shoulder with a confident smile.

"Exactly!" Evelin nodded in agreement. "And now let's change into our own clothes. We still have to visit a lingerie shop!"

"W-What!?" Judy made big, shocked eyes.

* * *

Taking a large sip from his coffee, Nick was breathing deeply. "Wow, what a story! No wonder your parents were in quite a panic when Judy introduced me as her boyfriend! But leaving Grandpop out I think I have a rather good reputation by now", he winked. "Time for stage two of my brilliant plan!"

Ralph smirked, "That is?"

"Devouring your sisters, of course!" Nick tried to laugh a bit crazily but it sounded like he had choked on something and Ralph snorted with laughter.

"Sorry, Nick. I really like you, but you don't stand a chance against them even though two of them are pregnant" Ralph chuckled. "Evelin and Judy are like fire and brimstone, and Clara is in no way inferior to them when in … I mean, when it comes to a fight!" – Ralph coughed slightly with a small grin.

"Don't worry, I can detect a bunny in heat by this time sometimes even before they know it themselves", Nick laughed. "However, that lead me to a question I thought about since I've known Judy…"

"Fire away, bro!"

"I always wondered why Judy and Evelin have such a strong relationship. Clara is her litter-sister; wouldn't it have been all natural for them to be as close as Judy is with Evelin now? I even thought for a while that Evelin was part of your litter".

Ralph watched Nick for a while, thinking about the question. When he finally looked away and took a sip from his tea, he asked a bit quieter, "You know about Flowers? I saw her photo in the album yesterday Judy had made for you".

Nick nodded slowly: "No details. She was your litter-sister, but died only after a few days".

Ralph continued with a short sigh. "Clara and I were the first two of us to be born. Then there were some complications for Judy and Flowers, they both entangled with the umbilical cord. Judy was finally all right after all, but Flowers did not get enough oxygen for a short while. As our parents told us, Clara and I were holding each other from the first second and the newly born Judy did not let go of Flowers. Nevertheless, our little sister died after a few days during the night. Our parents discovered it only after a few hours, Judy was still holding her little sister and did not want to let her go – even she was getting cold. We were not aware of all of this back then of course. However, when the next litter was born nearly a year after this, Evelin was the first one and the moment she was laying alone on the blanket, our little Judy leapt from her grandmother's arm and immediately hugged her newborn sister as if she was afraid she could otherwise _disappear_ like her former sister. From this moment on, Judy and Evelin were inseparable – and still are. We all love each other of course, but Judy's and Evelin's relationship is just something special".

Nick's face was sad; he did not expect the background of Judy and Evelin's deep friendship to be such a mournful one. Now he somewhat regretted that he had asked Ralph about it, if at all it should have been Judy telling him this. He slouched his shoulders and swallowed hard on a piece of cookie he was chewing for several minutes now.

"Don't worry, it's all a long time ago. Of course, we miss our little Flowers since our parents told us about her; as Judy would describe it: She is always with us in our hearts and living among us as the bond between her and Evelin. We don't grieve over it anymore… and neither should you, Nick" – Ralph smiled warmly and patted Nick's paw.

Over the next hour, Nick questioned Ralph about all kinds of different things regarding bunny kits, how to nurse them and on his role as a father in general. The rabbit was partly amused, but did his best to answer all of the fox's questions. It was already afternoon when Judy, Evelin and Clara finally entered the small café, too. Each of them had a big paper bag in their paws and they grinned satisfied.

"Hey, sis! We thought you had forgotten us and were heading home alone" Ralph snickered and got two more chairs for his sisters.

Judy sat down next to Nick, giving him a soft kiss. "I spent more time in those stores today than I have in the past year", she sighed with a giggle.

"Found something appropriate, carrots?" Nick asked grinning.

"That's a matter of opinion, you can decide for yourself this evening", she snickered and took a large sip of Nick's tea.

"Don't listen to her, Nicky" Evelin snickered. "Clara and I made sure that she will just look incredible tonight"

Nick turned around to Judy and looked into her eyes, then after a few seconds answered with a smile: "That's not really difficult; she always looks incredible in my opinion".

* * *

It was half past seven in the evening, Ralph and Nick had dressed in white suits, Nick also wore a white hat with a black hatband and had a black cane with a silver knob in his paw. Ralph was trying to pull himself up, but still snickered amused.

"You are not serious about this, are you?"

"I always loved those classic accessories, only the upper class wore those in the late twenties!"

"And now no one does, what does that tell you?"

"That today' mammals don't have any sense of taste?" Nick grinned.

Ralph gave Nick another glance-over, and when the fox started to twist the cane in his paws and improvised some dance-moves, the rabbit shook his head and laughed. When Nick finished, he took his hat and took a bow while Ralph clapped slowly.

"You are really inimitable, Nick".

With a sly grin, Nick threw the cane in the air, spun around his own axis and wanted to catch it again – in that very moment he saw that Judy had entered the room in her new dress and smartened up by her sisters, watching him with a tickled pink grin, leaning in the door frame. Nick froze at once, starring at her and letting the cane fall onto the floor.

"Sweet cheese and crackers…" he mumbled with a gaze, his eyes almost popping out; Ralph followed his look and whistled approvingly.

"You're not taking that ridiculous cane with you, foxtrot" Judy snickered.

"I'm not taking the cane with me…" Nick repeated trance-like.

"Oh, and forget about that hat, too. I'm not gonna show up in the Hollow Bar with a fox at my side that's wearing that".

Nick let the hat in his hand drop to the floor, still devouring the unusual looking little bunny with his eyes.

Ralph nodded approvingly – "I always knew, that our litter had the best looking Hopps children. You look stunning, Jude. Literally", he grinned with a side-glance to Nick, who was still starring at her without moving".

"I find the reaction of your husband a bit alarming, sis", Clara cocked her head. "Shouldn't he be accustomed to seeing you with a lot less clothes on?" she giggled and Judy smiled sheepishly.

"Oh, there are a whole lot of sexy gray shades between being casually dressed and being naked. I don't believe that our fox experiences this bold side of our Juju often", Evelin said with a sly grin while stepping between Judy and Clara from behind. She first gave Clara a small kiss on her cheek, then turned around to give Judy one likewise; but her sister randomly turned her head to her in the same moment, resulting in Evelin giving her a short kiss on her lips. Clara, Evelin and Ralph started to giggle immediately while Judy turned red from embarrassment. When she heard Nick quietly whimpering, she detached from her sisters and approached him emphasized slowly with a sly grin.

"I'm not sure we can take this fox with us, he seems to be broken", she put her paw under his chin and closed his slightly open mouth. Judy could hear Nick's heart nearly exploding in his chest and she must agree that it was a great feeling to tease him like that.

"With that dress I'm sure you can pull whoever you want from that party tonight", Evelin giggled and Nick winced.

"I bet, not only the male mammals…" Clara added with a wink. Ralph just stood there with a wide grin and observed the play, already being accustomed to such things when his sisters were in heat or pregnant. They always tried to exhaust the situation, having a thing for playing the severe bunny-sisters. However, he also remembered Nick's advice that the mammals in Zootopia react differently to those in a village like Bunnyburrow – he and Nick would have some beady eyes on them for sure. At this moment, his sympathy was all with the fox: He had to agree, that his three sisters looked gorgeous; but in combination with their pheromones, it must be a torture for a mammal with such an exceptional olfaction like Nick.

"If you don't make a compliment immediately, I'll really consider going without you because it took quite an effort to dress up like this and I'm really in need of an ego boost now", Judy whispered with a sly grin.

When he bowed down a bit to give her a kiss between her ears, his lips were shaking. "You're really wearing me out" he mumbled and ran his claws over her back, making her shiver. "Beautiful bunny…"

"You three look like Charlie's Angels" Ralph snickered, approaching his other two sisters.

"More like Hopps' Angels - would that make you our 'Bosley'?" Clara grinned and Evelin snickered.

"Ladies, you can call me whatever you like!" Ralph winked and first gave Clara, then Evelin a kiss on the hand and finally went between them and linked his arms with theirs. "What about you two, are you accompanying us?"

Nick put his arm around his bunny, letting his paw rest on her hip. "We are ready to go; I want to swagger in the public with having the most beautiful lady of Zootopia at my side!" Nick grinned and Judy giggled quietly.

"I hope someone called a Zuber, because I'm not going to walk all the way to the bar with this dress. I don't want to get Pneumonia as well!" she winked.

* * *

When they arrived at the Hollow Bar, the location was crowded but Nick spotted Francine – an elephant, colleague and friend – in a large group sitting at a few tables near the stage. Most of their friends and colleagues had already arrived and were chatting. The four rabbits were following Nick who tried to clear the way for them, and the others were greeting and hugging them, wishing each of them a 'Happy Birthday' – with Evelin warding them off that she was only a guest, and Judy had to remind everybody who tried to hug her about her still hurting chest. Most of their guests were colleagues from the precinct, but there were also some other friends like Emmit Otterton and his wife, Renato Manchas, Fru Fru with her husband (and Nick was sure he saw Kevin and Raymond as their bodyguards at the bar), and several more.

When they all sat down again, a doe came by and took their orders for drinks.

"Next round is on me!" Bogo exclaimed with a slight grin. When their drinks arrived a few minutes later, they all raised their glasses and looked to the group of rabbits. "For your birthday, all the best wishes …" he started and the whole squad joined in, shouting:

"Hip, hip, hooray! Hip, hip, hooray! Hip, hip, hooray!" – stamping on the ground and battering on the table, and finally they were all chinking their glasses.

Many other guests quickly noticed the cheering group and a few started to sing loudly, with more and more of the other guests joining in – including the live band who played along:

_"For they're jolly good fellows, for they're jolly good fellows!_  
_For they're jolly good fellows (pause), which nobody can deny!_  
_And so say all of us, and so say all of us!_  
_For they're jolly good fellows, for they're jolly good fellows!_  
_For they're a jolly good fellows (pause), which nobody can deny!"_

When the cheering and clapping slowly decayed, the rabbits thanked everybody with a happy smile. Clara managed to have a seat right beside Clawhauser who tried not to stare too obviously at her dress. Judy quickly noticed and lightly pushed Nick with her elbow to get his attention and pointed with her head in her sisters' direction with a grin. Evelin was eagerly talking with Fru Fru, who was really keen on her pregnant belly, and Ralph chatted with Bogo and the Ottertons. While Judy was chatting with Francine and Fangmeyer, Nick was having a talk with Alex, a badger and friend he and Judy met during a case, and McHorn – all having quite a good time.

It was about 22:00 when the band leader on the stage announced the beginning of the karaoke night – some special event that happened every second Saturday. Two half-drunk female pigs started it off with ' _Man, I feel like a woman_ ', not necessarily striking all the right tones but with full self-confidence. Next on was a young and a bit shy looking brown bear, singing ' _Take my breath away_ ' with an unexpectedly great singing voice – turning the bar into a sea of lighter lights. A female bear near the stage, obviously his date tonight, was really over the moon with his performance and blowing a kiss into his direction.

Francine and Fangmeyer started to persuade Judy to also sing a song, quickly accompanied by more colleagues. It didn't take long and Evelin and Clara witnessed the scene and without hesitating they grabbed Judy from both sides and dragged her along to the again empty stage.

Ralph tapped Nick, who was absorbed in a talk with the Ottertons, onto his arm and said with a nod in the direction of the stage: "That could get interesting…" he snickered and when Nick realized who was talking with the band about what song to play, the fox grinned.

"Oh, definitely!"

It was Clara who started to sing: "I'll tell you what I want, what I really, really want…"

Followed by Evelin, who was stepping beside her: "So tell me what you want, what you really, really want!"

Judy finally approached from the other side and also sang: "I'll tell you what I want, what I really, really want…" – followed by Evelin's answer again.

Clara continued: "I wanna, ( _Evelin and Judy: 'ha'_ ) I wanna, ( _'_ _ha'_ ) I wanna, ( _'_ _ha'_ ) I wanna, ( _'_ _ha'_ ) I wanna really, really, really wanna zigzag ah".

The first two lines of the verse were sung by Evelin, the other two lines by Judy – the refrain sang by all three of them: "If you wanna be my lover, you gotta get with my friends. Make it last forever, friendship never ends!"

Their performance was really good, Nick immediately assumed that it couldn't be the first time those three rabbits had sang this song together and grinned while clapping and whistling with the others after they finished: "If you wanna be my lover…" – all three stood together, hugging each other, Evelin and Judy resting their heads on Clara's left and right shoulder.

While another one started to sing 'Beat it', the three bunnies were welcomed at their table with a lot of cheering. All three of them were a bit puffed and Nick noticed Judy's painful facial expression at once in spite of her smiling attempt. He handed her two of her painkillers he had took along preventively. Judy was not too pleased, but took them gratefully with some sips from her cola nevertheless.

In the meantime, Clara and Evelin tried to convince Ralph to sing a song, too.

"Come on, sis. You know I'm not good at singing!" he tried to make some excuses but in the end, he gave in, emptied his beer and stood up with a sigh. "Okay, okay – but I have warned you!"

He had a short talk with the band and after a very short intro, he sang: "I see trees of green, red roses too. I see them bloom for me and you. And I think to myself: What a wonderful world". The rabbit didn't have the dark and smoky voice of the original, but he wasn't bad either – a lot of guests started panning their lighters again, everyone listening quietly to the slow and dreamy ballad. In the end, Ralph got quite some applause and even a few whistles.

Judy hugged her brother when he walked back to their table: "That was wonderful, really heart-warming."

"I'm happy if you are pleased, but it's nothing compared to your performance with Evelin and Clara" he winked and ordered another beer.

"Where's Nicky hiding? He has to sing a song tonight, too!" Evelin snickered and quite a few others were chiming in. Judy looked around, Nick wasn't on his seat anymore where she had left him just a minute ago. At that moment, the band started to play a slow rumba and Nick said into the microphone:

"Ladies and Gentlemen, my wife, who is still the love of my life, is celebrating her birthday today among us. This song is for the most beautiful woman I know – this song is for you, Judy…" he stood on the stage with his enamored smile while the band finished their intro:

"Someday, when I'm awfully low. When the world is cold, I will feel a glow just thinking of you and the way you look tonight.

You're lovely, with your smile so warm, and your cheeks so soft, there is nothing for me, but to love you and the way you look tonight".

Judy was getting all emotional again, swinging slowly to the beat and listening to her fox singing. She thought back to over a year ago when they were in this bar, too, and she heard Nick sing for the first time – "Wicked Games" was the song back then and they started being a couple that evening. Now they were married, she was pregnant and celebrating her birthday together with her siblings, best friends and colleagues in the same bar, and Nick was singing for her again.

While the band was playing the instrumental part, Nick stepped down from the stage and took Judy's paw into his. When he tried to draw her with him back onto the stage, she made no resistance and followed him. Putting his arm around her body and giving her a short kiss on the cheek, he finally continued to sing:

"Yes, you're lovely, never, ever change. Keep that breathless charm. Won't you please arrange it? Cause I love you just the way you look tonight!"

Judy just watched him with her happiest smile, swaying slowly to the song.

"Darling… just the way you look tonight" Nick finished the song and while the band was playing the last notes, he embraced Judy and they shared a deep and loving kiss while the crowd was cheering and whistling to them.

When they finally approached their table again, they had to bear some smirks and cheeky comments from their colleagues. Only Evelin was anomalously quiet, not giving a single barefaced comment but just smiled at them happily, leaning against Ralph's shoulder. During Nick's performance, it was the very first time this weekend that Evelin missed her husband from the heart; the song really got to her and Ralph put his arms around his sisters shoulder to comfort her.

"Sorry, I didn't want to bother you, dear brother" she smiled after a few minutes and patted his arm. "But Nick's song and watching them together was just so touching".

"No excuses needed, sis" Ralph smiled at her. "Are You okay now?"

"Yepp, just a short mood. Where is Clara?" Evelin smiled again, sipping from her non-alcoholic drink and looking around.

Ralph pointed with his head to the big cheetah and grinned softly. Clara was sitting on Clawhauser's lap and talking quietly with him, their paws folded together and giggling from time to time. Most colleagues were peeking every now and then in their direction with a small grin, but nobody said anything and left them alone.

Around midnight the karaoke night ended and the band played for two more hours some quiet and slow songs. The guests, who were mostly at the bar to party or for the karaoke night, left gradually and the remaining ones either talked quietly at their tables or danced together to the music. The colleagues who had the early shift bade farewell, too. When it was shortly after two o'clock in the morning, Nick had a special wish for the last song the band should play. After a quick talk with the bandleader, he returned to Judy: "May I have the pleasure of the last dance tonight?" – The band started to play ' _Slow dancing in a burning room_ ' and with a smitten smile, Judy followed Nick to the stage, embracing him and started to slowly sway with him to 'their' song.

"I love you, my sly fox" she whispered quietly and Nick smiled.

"I love you, my sly bunny" he replied and while the lead-guitar was playing a great solo they noticed that Ralph and Evelin were dancing together, too. When the song finished, they looked at each other with a content smile and slowly walked back to their table where only Benjamin and Clara were sitting together – all of their other guests had already left at least twenty minutes ago. Ralph had already paid their last drinks and Nick called a Zuber to drive them home.

Clara was slightly drunk and Benjamin offered to carry her to their taxi. He finally bid farewell to all rabbits and Nick with a big hug and left them in a good mood, walking home.

"I would have bet that you two would at least spend the night together, sis" Evelin grinned at Clara after they were sitting in their taxi.

"We don't want to rush things" she declared, giggling tiddly.

Nick and Judy shared a quick look, and then grinned. "Well, Benjamin is at least a mammal with a heart as big as his hunger for donuts – and a real gentleman. You could have chosen worse" Judy winked at her dizzy sister.

It took them only five minutes to arrive at their apartment, Nick and Ralph supported Clara walking to the elevator and finally to their flat. When she laid down on the guest bed, she almost fell asleep immediately. The others grinned somewhat, but Ralph was also feeling the effects of the alcohol by now.

"I think I will go to bed, too. What about you?" he asked the other three.

Evelin nodded slowly, "Don't get me wrong, Juju. I would love to talk with you the whole night, but my back and feet are killing me by now."

"You're getting old, Eve" Judy snickered.

"Be glad that you are currently only in your third week, it won't be much longer and you will have to carry a belly as big as a squash with you, too!" Evelin winked and stroked over her belly smiling. "Have a good night you two, we'll see you in the morning", she gave Nick and Judy a quick kiss and followed Ralph into the guest room, closing the door behind her.

Nick and Judy went into their own bedroom. Nick put his jacket, trousers and shirt onto a chair and let himself fall backwards onto their bed. "I hope you had a great evening and birthday, carrots", he smiled softly, looking at their ceiling. He heard some rustling but Judy didn't answer him. "Carrots? Are you okay?" he asked somewhat curiously. When he propped his upper body up with his arms and elbows, Judy was standing in front of their bed, still having her new dress on and smiling at him. He admired the look for a moment and smiled. Judy climbed slowly onto the bed, carefully readjusting her dress so it didn't get out of place, and finally knelt above him, her legs beside his hips.

"It was a really great evening, Nick" she smiled – then slowly grabbed behind her and pulled the dress above her head, throwing it into a corner of the room. She was wearing some really hot and transparent lingerie with lacing, definitely something Nick had never seen on her before. She could hear how his heartbeat accelerated again like the first time he saw her this evening and he slowly gulped; she started to grin slyly at him, deciding to tease him just a little bit longer: "And now I'm claiming my birthday present…" she leaned forward, rubbing all over Nick's fur with her paws and kissed him passionately.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Many thanks to Sean Dalglish for his review and proofreading this chapter!
> 
> The whole series is also made available as an audio drama on YouTube, releasing a new chapter each week!  
> Chapter 1: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fi-FvGtwMTQ


	6. The Red Flash

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Since Nick started to work for the ZPD, he and his old friend Finnick had no more contact. Even after being invited to the wedding of the couple he didn’t made it to Bunnyburrow. But he gifted them some rare tickets to a soldold baseball home game of the Zootopia Red Paws against the Deerbrooke Eagles. Finally the day had come, and although Judy felt exhausted after her and her litter siblings birthday party the previous day, she insisted that they would meet with Finnick and go to the game. But the match shouldn’t be the only exciting thing that day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>   
>  [ ](http://zootopiachronicl.es/chapter/3x06.html)
> 
> ### This chapter is also available as an _[audio drama on YouTube!](http://zootopiachronicl.es/chapter/3x06.html)_

>   _“That's baseball, and it's my game. Y' know, you take your worries to the game, and you leave 'em there. You yell like crazy for your guys. It's good for your lungs, gives you a lift, and nobody calls the cops. Pretty girls, lots of 'em.”_
> 
> _Humphrey Bogart_

* * *

 “I’m never having alcohol ever again”, Ralph complained while slowly rubbing his temples. Evelin snickered quietly and caressed her brothers ears that were peeping out of the blanket, that she was also sitting on. “Did we pack some light painkillers?” he sighed.

“Not to my knowledge” Eve chuckled. “But I’m sure, Judy and Nick will have some”.

“It’s only just past nine, I don’t want to wake them up”, Ralph sighed and turned his head to the other side, smiling slightly when he saw the still deeply sleeping Clara. “And it seems they are not the only ones still asleep”.

Evelin stretched her head, watching her older sister and grinned. “She would have been better making out with that cheetah instead of drinking another cocktail”.

“Another one of our litter dating a predator from Zootopia? Mom and Dad will be ecstatic!” Ralph winked.

“As long as you’re the good son and having a normal rabbit family with Melanie” Evelin snickered, “Speaking of a normal rabbit family, what about your second litter? Your first one is almost a year old; it’s about time, isn’t it?”

Ralph groaned, “You will have more than enough little bunnies to look after in about a week, won’t you?”

“That’s what I’m saying! A few more or less will make no difference”, she giggled.

“Don’t forget about Judy’s kits”, Ralph smiled at her. “Did you already talk with her about Sven’s…”

“Shhh!” Evelin put her finger in front of her mouth. “No, I haven’t, and Clara has no idea, either”, she looked to her older sister and then to Ralph again with a warning look. “And as long as his negotiations are not home and dry, I will not say anything. You’re currently the only one who knows about it. I don’t want to raise false hope”. Her ears twitched when she heard the toilet flushing. “Oh, and at least one of our hosts is already awake. I will ask for some painkillers for you”, she winked at Ralph who nodded thankfully.

Evelin slipped from the bed, slowly rubbing her belly. Her little kits were quite active this morning again! She opened the door of the guestroom and walked along the hall to the bathroom. As she was waiting in front of it, she heard a quiet moaning.

She knocked on the door hesitantly, asking softly: “Is everything okay in there?” She could hear someone using the sink then some quiet footsteps – definitely Judy. “Juju?”

“Yeah…” her sister answered with a quiet and somewhat weary voice.

Evelin pushed down the handle and slowly opened the door. “Hey, sis. Everything ok… green carrot, what’s the matter with you?” She made a quick leap towards her sister who was bracing both her arms on the basin and had a really pale face.

“Hey, Eve” she tried to smile. “Everything’s alright, just some morning sickness”. Judy slowly turned around, appearing to be somewhat weak- in the knees.

Eve put her arms around her and smiled softly. “You should sit down and have a glass of juice. Come on, I’m escorting you to the couch”.

“Thank you, but I think I can go on my own…” she said but stumbled the moment she wanted to leave the bathroom.

“Hey, hey… careful, sis. That’s not normal morning sickness, you cannot even stand on your own. You’re sure that everything’s okay?” Evelin braced her sister on her arm and looked somewhat worried. They made a few steps together out of the bathroom and headed to the living room.

“I’m just a bit tired, I didn’t get a lot of sleep. They were kicking around the whole night and it’s difficult to find a position that is comfortable for both my belly and my chest” Judy smiled softly, holding her belly with one paw, and her other arm supported by Evelin.

Her sister turned her head a bit and put her own paw on Judy’s belly. “You’re sure you’re just in your third week? You look as if you are at least in the fourth” she winked.

“And I’m feel like I’m in the sixth…” Judy smiled. “But Doctor Alisson was quite sure about that. Please don’t say that I have woken you up?” she looked worried at her younger sister.

Evelin waved her hand and shook her head, “No, don’t worry. I’ve been awake for half an hour and Ralph woke up ten minutes ago. I just heard someone in the bathroom and wanted to ask if you have some painkillers for your sissy-brother”, she grinned.

“Too much beer yesterday, eh?” Judy grinned a bit. “Yes, of course. We have some aspirin in our drawer over there…” she wanted to break away on her own but Evelin held her tight.

“I can get it, too. You are going to sit down right there, geddit?”

“I’m okay, Eve”, Judy smiled softly, but she didn’t sound too convincing. Evelin escorted her to the couch and helped her sit down. While Evelin walked to the kitchen, that is separated with a counter from the living room, Judy leaned back and sighed. “I don’t get it, I’m in really good shape and you are even a few weeks ahead. Still, you seem to cope with the pregnancy far better than I am!”

“That has nothing to do with your training or fitness, sis. Also, don’t forget that I was not blown up by a car bomb”, her sister winked and filled a glass with some carrot juice. “And all the kicking of your kits is a good sign, they are developing quite fast and are in good health”.

“I don’t want to think about the fact, that this will get even worse in the next five weeks”, Judy sighed and took the glass from Evelin.

“Don’t worry, I heard the first litter is the hardest”, Evelin winked and sat on the armrest.

“You are already thinking about more litters?” Judy seemed a bit surprised.

“Of course! You know how much I love kits, a few vexations during pregnancy will not discourage me”.

“It’s not only some vexations that give me a pause. Nick and I also live in a big city, not in the countryside and it’s even a small miracle that I got pregnant without medical help, who knows if this will ever work again. There is very little information available about fox-rabbit-crossbreeds. Did you know, that they are really called ‘funnies’? And of course we are both working in a time consuming job. Also, we are still sitting on the fence how our kits will be… I mean, will they be okay? What if they aren’t healthy? Or what if they don’t get along with other kits? Or what if…”

“Hey, hey, hey… Juju… you are totally overthinking everything again!” Evelin took her now panicky sister in her arms and patted her back soothingly. “Take a deep breath, sis. Everything will be alright, I’m sure. I didn’t mean to hassle you about it”. While Evelin hugged her sister, she felt a soft kicking from Judy’s belly and grinned. “Wow, you were right. Your kits are already much more active than mine were in their third week”.

Judy nodded and sighed pleased, stroking Evelin’s arm. When Ralph coughed slightly, standing in the door frame, both rabbits turned their head.

“Morning, Ralph” Judy smiled softly.

“Hey, sis”, he smiled, “I thought I’d better look Evelin, as she just wanted to bring me some aspirin. I could have bet that you two are already gossiping together again”.

“Whoops, sorry. Totally forgot about your headache. The pills are in the drawer over there”, Evelin smiled apologetically.

“It’s my fault, I wasn’t feeling all too well”, Judy explained and wanted to get off the couch. “Wait a second, I’m getting them for you!”

“Will you be a good bunny now and just stay put, Juju!” Evelin urged her sister, who was already reeling again while trying to get up from the couch.

“I’m absolutely able to get them on my own, but thanks Ju”, Ralph smiled and walked to the drawer beside the TV. “Is everything okay, did you sleep well? To be honest you are looking somewhat ill”.

“I’m okay, just a bit weary. It was around four o’clock when we finally went to sleep, but it’s hard to find a comfortable position for my belly and my chest concurrently”, Judy answered while leaning back again.

Ralph opened the drawer, took two small pills from a small box and walked over to the counter, reaching for a carafe with water and a glass.

“Is Clara still asleep?” Judy asked.

“Yepp” Evelin nodded, “I think she wanted to give herself liquid courage, but ended with a cocktail too many. I already said to Ralph she would have been better making out with that cheetah instead of drinking that last Pina Colada”, she giggled.

“Benjamin and Clara… oh, I would pay to see this!” Judy snickered quietly. “Or at least Dad’s face when he hears about it”.

“I rest my case”, Ralph grinned after taking a big sip from his glass of water. “I already said that Mom and Dad would be ecstatic if another one of our litter goes out with a predator”.

“I’m not sure if Ben really counts as a real predator. He is more like a really big and fluffy cuddly toy and totally harmless. But it would be funny nevertheless”, Judy giggled. “But wasn’t Clara into other females? I mean, I didn’t take a closer look, but as far as I know Ben is still a male cheetah”.

“Maybe her attraction to females only counts for bunnies, not for other species” Evelin suggested with a shrug and grinned.

“I just hope that she is not only playing with Ben, he is a really nice bro and doesn’t deserves to be just utilized by a needy bunny in heat”, Nick stood in the door frame to the living room, yawning with a grin, still a bit tired looking.

“Ah, our late sleeper is also awake. Good morning, Nicky!” Evelin had turned her head and smiled to him. “Did we wake you up?”

“Naah, I woke up when Judy went to the bathroom and wondered why she hadn’t come back yet”, Nick toddled to the couch and put his snout onto his bunnies head between her ears. When she wrapped her ears around his snout he hummed contentedly.

“That’s also the reason I finally got off the bed”, Ralph chuckled. “Evelin just wanted to get me some aspirin but then stood me up”.

“Cry me a river!” Evelin snickered and Ralph poked his tongue out at her.

“I hope, you liked your little party yesterday”, Nick smiled, running his paw through Judy’s fur.

“I think it was a great day, wasn’t it Ju?” Ralph walked to the other couch smiling.

“After I habituated being nearly nude in that dress, I had a lot of fun, too”, she answered with a small grin and Evelin giggled.

“You looked gorgeous, carrots. Even more than usual”, Nick gave Judy a soft kiss on her cheek.

“Thank you”, she said quietly and smiled sheepishly. “Did you have some fun, too, Eve? You got rather quiet late in the evening”.

“I confess that I got somewhat emotional and really started to miss Sven while watching you two”, the younger rabbit smiled, putting her paw on Judy’s leg.

“Why didn’t he accompany you this weekend?” Nick asked curiously. “We still have the folding bed and our couch is also extendable. Maybe it’s not a burrow, but we still have enough room to host a few of you bunnies for a night or two”.

“That’s so sweet of you”, Evelin smiled. “But he had a business appointment in Podunk and stayed overnight”.

“He works in his families transport service company, doesn’t he?” Judy asked.

“In the Administration Department, yes. They are one of the biggest service providers for all kinds of travel and logistics”.

“Well, just remember that you are all welcomed whenever you want to visit us”, Nick smiled to Evelin and Ralph. “And now I’m going to prepare some breakfast, I really could use some coffee”.

“I’m going to help you”, Ralph hopped off the couch and followed Nick while Evelin restrained Judy again. But instead of objecting with her younger sister, the rabbit just sighed this time, closed her eyes and leaned against her shoulder. Evelin smiled and put her arm around her drained sister.

* * *

 

It was quarter past one when Nick and Judy accompanied Ralph and a still very sleepy Clara to the railway station. After Sven had called and told Evelin that he could pick her up on his way back, Evelin decided to skip the train ride and stay at the apartment waiting for him, still being somewhat exhausted. So after waving Judy’s litter siblings goodbye, the two ZPD officers went for an amble through Savanna Central on their own.

“Are you sure we shouldn’t cancel our appointment with Finnick? You are really looking somewhat peaky, carrots”.

 “No way, Nick!” Judy shook her head determined. “You two haven’t met for ages and our meeting today at the baseball game has been scheduled for a long time. We are not going to cancel that just because I partied too hard!”

“Maybe it was a little bit late last night, but you cannot call that partying hard. I’m just worried about you, and your wellbeing always has my highest priority. Even Finnick has to wait in line for that and Evelin also stayed at home to slacken off”.

“I’m okay, foxtrot. Also, we are only sitting in the stadium watching the game, not playing ourselves. Besides, Evelin’s pregnancy is already due in about a week”, she smiled. They crossed the street to enter the municipal park and Nick sighed; continuing to argue with Judy at this point was as promising as trying to persuade a mountain to move out of the way.

“Difficutie…” Nick muttered and cradled her a bit tighter.

“Say again?” Judy raised her eyebrows and grinned roguishly.

“Nothing, carrots”.

“Dumb fox”.

“I’m not dumb just because I care about you, Judy”.

The rabbit nudged him with her hip and smiled. “I know that you are not dumb, Nick. Come on, you are always going along with our little jokes. There is no reason for you to worry, I promise. I’m just somewhat exhausted after the last few days and not getting enough sleep”.

 “Are you cold, my little wabbit rabbit?” Nick tickled his paw over her arm.

Judy sighed and shook her head, “No… it’s just my chest hurting again”.

The fox paused, “Why don’t you take your painkillers, carrots? You cannot be too proud, are you?”

“I don’t like to take all those drugs constantly while I’m pregnant”, she answered while sitting down on a nearby park bench, breathing deeply.

Nick sat beside her, put his arm around her shoulders and smiled: “And I don’t like to see you in such pain that you are even trembling”. Nick took a small box out of his pants and gave it to Judy. She took it with a soft smile, opened it and swallowed one of the pills.

“Do you carry those everywhere with you?” she winked at him.

“Be prepared!” Nick winked back at her and lifted his right paw. Judy giggled and let her eyes wander over the other mammals walking along the side-street, snuggling up to Nick’s warm and fuzzy tail and burying her nose into it. The year would end in just a few weeks and even in the weather-controlled city the wind was getting somewhat colder at this time of year.

Nick was tickling her head when Judy asked: “Do you ever think about what our kits will be like?”

The fox thought about it for a moment, then shrugged his shoulders. “It would be great if they are as beautiful as their mommy and as clever and eloquent as their daddy…”, he grinned.

“Ha ha”, Judy snickered quietly.

“…but as long as they are healthy, I’m happy”.

“Yeah… I think that’s something every couple is worried about. But if their current activity is any indicator, they are going to be some balls of energy”, she grinned while stroking over her belly. Nick put his own paw very slowly and carefully onto her belly, too, and flinched a bit with a happy smirk when he felt some little kicks.

“I know you don’t like it, but I have to say it… you are such a cutie, now more than ever!” he snickered and gave her an enduring kiss between the ears.

Judy smiled tenderly at him and fondled his neck. “Actually, I really like it when you call me your cutie”.

“Don’t lead me into temptation, you compelling, cute little bunny!”

Judy snickered, playing around with the fur on his tail again. Then she got more serious again: “I’m a bit worried, Nick. Sure, we will love them either way, but what if they will look so uncommon that they will be sidelines and social misfits? You hardly see any crossbreeds, or do you know some?”

“As I already said, I know everyone, carrots” Nick winked with his sly grin.

“Dumb fox”, Judy nudged him with her elbow and smiled.

“But seriously, don’t worry too much about it, Judy. There are actually more crossbreeds than you would think, but they don’t look so much different than their parents, so it’s rarely noticeable. It’s not that some mad scientist is going to put different body parts randomly together. The genetics of one parent are dominant most of the time”.

“Maybe I’m just a dumb country bunny, but do you have some examples?” Judy grinned with a curious look.

“Well, I know a few mules running a construction-business in the Meadowlands. And there is a really upscale restaurant in Lions Gate run by a female liger. Or Jane Tunney, the famous author of children’s books? She is a coutah”.

“Granted, but those species are all looking rather similar, it’s no surprise that their mutual children are more or less unremarkable”.

“You dare me, really?” Nick started to grin slyly. “Okay then, what about Salazar? He’s a Zeraffe and a successful model”.

“You mean the giraffe that was in that famous advertisement by Calvin Swine last year?” Judy made big eyes.

“Oh, his mother is, for sure”, Nick snickered. “Did you never wonder about his uncommon fur pattern?”

“Well, I just thought it’s some kind of makeup. Or maybe even tattoos. Wait, a Zeraffe you said?” Judy asked thoughtfully and Nick nodded. “Hm.. that would make his father a … wait, a zebra?!”

“Right on the button, carrots”.

“Oh… ok, well...” Judy started to grin, “Could be an interesting sight. Did he use a ladder, what do you think?”

They both started to laugh, then Judy asked after a while: “What about kits with mixed predator-prey parents?”

Nick furrowed his brows but finally shook his head. “Toothless croc, you’ve got me there. I know a few couples, but as far as I know they have no biological children”. He leaned forward and rubbed his nose tenderly over her cheek. “I have no idea what Funnies are going to look like, maybe just big rabbits with short ears”, he grinned.

Judy smiled, “I’m also okay with small foxes having floppy ears…” she suddenly paused and her eyes widened.

The fox just replied her increasing grin with a confused look. “What are you thinking about, carrots?”

“Did you actually ever met Finnick’s parents?” she started to giggle.

“No, why do you…”, he started but it slowly dawned on him what Judy was implying. “No way!” he snorted with laughter.

“Who knows”, Judy winked giggling. “I always thought that he is quite funny”.

* * *

The tram to the stadium was crowded and Nick was watching his little rabbit the whole time to prevent someone bumping into her or knocking her over. Under normal circumstances, it was no problem for her to ride with the train, being pregnant almost always securing her a seat, too. But the mammals on their way to the baseball game were already partly drunk and the mood was really heating up. Baseball wasn’t Judy’s favorite sport and if at all she watched a game preferably from her cozy couch on television. Nick didn’t really trace all the games, but liked to watch the finals. As opposed to this, Finnick was always a big fan of the Red Paws, a club from Savanna Central, and in the past he and Nick scalped tickets for the games and naturally also used them themselves.

But their get-together today wasn’t really about the baseball game but more an act of friendship by Finnick. He and Nick were friends for nearly six years, a really long time considering both their lifestyles at that time. But when Nick started to visit the police academy they parted company; not as a conscious decision, but just lost contact after a while. The last time Judy saw Finnick was during their night howler case, when she asked him for help to find Nick. She talked with him on the phone two more times a few weeks later and then only again a few weeks ago when she asked him for photos of Nick for her album. But as far as she knew, he and Nick had no contact for more than half a year when her fox called him again to ask Finnick if he wanted to be his groomsman – which he denied. Getting a card from the fennec fox for their wedding and tickets for today’s baseball game to meet again, was a big surprise that gave Nick one of his rare emotional moments. But Judy was of course aware of the fact that Nick was still somewhat nervous about their get-together. She didn’t even need to hear his accelerated heartbeat in this crowded wagon to realize this and even though she wasn’t feeling too well, she wouldn’t allow Nick to use that as an excuse to defer their appointment. Finnick was one of the few mammals Nick ever called a friend, and Judy felt at least a little bit guilty that they had lost contact – ultimately it was because of her that Nick started to work for the ZPD.

When the tram arrived at the final stop and all passengers were jostling to the exit doors, Judy breathed deeply and Nick sighed relieved.

“Their loutish behavior will get even worse after the game for sure”, Nick grumbled and handed Judy his paw to help her get up.

“Yeah, you’re probably right. Maybe we should go back by foot instead of using the tram?”

“We will see how bad it gets. But it’s quite a distance, I will not let you walk that far in your current state. Maybe we can get a Zuber”.

“I bet those are completely booked”, Judy smiled softly, linking her arm with Nick’s and slowly following the big group of mammals heading to the stadium a few hundred meters away.

“Well, I could go savage on you so our colleagues get us arrested and give us a ride back to the precinct”, Nick snickered.

“Sorry, foxtrot, but the Canal District is in the jurisdiction of precinct seventeen, and I bet Bogo would extend your office duty for an indefinite time if he has to explain to them why one of his officers went savage on an innocent, cute, little – not to mention pregnant – prey during a major sports event”. Judy looked up at him with those big eyes, acting like the innocent victim.

“Sly bunny”, Nick winked at her, putting on his aviator sunglasses, and Judy grinned.

“Where are we meeting Finnick, by the way?” she asked while looking around.

“We are meeting at that effigy of a lion opposite the main entrance”.

“It’s a statue of General Kion, smarty-fox”, Judy nudged him with her hip and smirked. “You really don’t know about history, do you?”

“Naah, I know other mammals who I can ask if I ever need it”, Nick grinned slyly.

Judy sighed with a smile and they headed towards the big statue. “You’re nervous, aren’t you?”

“Why should I be…” Nick snickered but paused when he noticed Judy’s sly grin and just smiled at her. “Yeah, maybe I’m just a bit uneasy. It has been a while and Fin can be quite freakish”.

Judy nudged him with her elbow and winked: “Just try to imagine him as a little ‘funny’, and everything should be fine”.

Nick started snorting, “He will string us up for this, you know that, carrots?”

“Threatening a cop is a crime, why should I risk jail time for a slacker like you?” someone asked with a deep voice, standing right behind a pillar. Nick winced for a moment, but then put on his sly grin.

“If this isn’t my little baby elephant...”

The small fennec fox came around the pillar with crossed arms and cocked his head.

“Well, you’ve sure still got your large ears, but where is your cute little trunk?” Nick continued with an even wider grin.

“You’re playing with fire! Not the best idea for a former iceman”, Finnick snarled and eyed Nick slowly. “Give me a leg up, smartass: Are you still trying to hustle yourself out of that accusation for tax fraud or are you just into little ones with large ears?”

“Busted! You didn’t reciprocate my feelings so I had to realign”, Nick shrugged and put his sunglasses down. “Also, she doesn’t threaten to bite off my face when I kiss her, you know”, he turned to Judy and gave her a short kiss between the ears, resulting in the little rabbit rolling her eyes with a grin.

“You’re still playing the squeaky wheel, aren’t you? Did you find yourself a new ‘daddy’ in the meantime, little toot-toot?” Judy put a paw on her hip and grinned slyly at Finnick.

The fennec fox put down his sunglasses, too, now turning to Judy. “And you are still the little quixotic country bunny, trying to make the world a better place?”

“Maybe a little less idealistic, but still trying to change the world step-by-step. At least it worked with our red-furred friend here”, she poked her elbow into Nick’s side.

Finnick started to smirk, “Still the quick-witted bunny”. He turned his head back to Nick: “And you two are really married? Damn, she really hustled you good, old boy!” With an amused grin he handed him his paw and Nick eagerly grabbed it.

“She’s the only one beside you who ever managed to accomplish this”, Nick squatted and hugged the fennec fox laughing.

Finnick patted the fox’s back, then stepped back again and turned to Judy, eyeing her from head to toe. “The last time we met you were in top-condition, but meanwhile that lazyfox’ poor fitness seemed to have rubbed off on you. I would have bet that you had a better taste in mate selection, bunny-cop”, he winked with a grin.

“Oh, I’m keeping him on the hop, don’t worry” Judy snickered and hugged the little fox. “Good to see you again, Finnick”.

“On the Hopps’ would be more precise!” Finnick snorted with laughter and Nick snickered.

Judy just shrugged and rubbed her belly with a grin: “Well, as it turned out we rabbits are not the only ones good at multiplication”.

Finnick started to choke with laughter, then just starred at Judy wide-eyed. “You are joking, right?”

“Did you think I’m fattening her up? You know what a great chef I am”, Nick winked at the baffled fennec fox.

Finnick looked doubtfully up to Nick, then back to Judy who was visibly amused by his stun.

“Yes, I’m pregnant and yes, Nick is the father”, she winked.

“Bloody hell!” the little fox muttered. “I’m unsure, should I congratulate you, or should I rather express my condolences?”

“You’re getting two siblings to play with, little toot-toot”, Judy snickered and cuddled the bewildered fox, giving him a quick kiss on his forehead.

“You better tell this jokester that I’m still an unsafe predator with sharp claws and teeth, because I’m unsure how much longer I can withhold myself from biting her face off” Finnick snarled with a side-glance to Nick who already had tears in his eyes from laughing.

“I would pay to see you both wrestling”. He wiped away some tears with his paw, still giggling just like Judy.

“More likely you would stand by and charge others to watch and accept bets as a book-maker”, Finnick finally started to grin, too, and shook Nick’s paw congratulating him.

“Fin, you know I love you, but your odds are rather lousy. Carrots would even kick your ass while she’s in labor, I know where I speak”.

“Good to know, you will be my champion if I’m ever going to organize some preyfights” he winked while hugging Judy to congratulate her, too. “Not that I would ever do such a thing!”

[A/N (https://zootopiachronicl.es/appendix/glossar): “Preyfighting is a blood sport between two prey fighting in a ring until one of the opponents is knocked unconscious, often inflicting significant physical trauma on each other. It's illegal in most countries but there are underground fight clubs. The history of organized preyfights goes back a few hundred years when predators were keeping prey as some sort of slaves (see also: Predsuck)”]

“Of course not” Judy smiled slyly and linked her arm with Nick’s again. “Should we go in and search our seats?”

* * *

“That’s friggin’ unbelievable! Not a single score yet against those woodland creepers! On a home match! This overpaid jerk cannot hit a ball thrown by a sloth!” Finnick stood on his seat and was swearing like a trooper.

It was already the last inning and just one strike left, all spectators banking on quite a few extra innings. Some music was playing in the stadium as the trainer of the Zootopia Red Paws requested a time out. Nick was also ranting, albeit not as excited as Finnick: The current batter of the Red Paws was after all a red fox, too. Judy was sneering – it was really funny to witness Finnick and Nick losing the plot over something trivial like a baseball game. She gently rubbed her belly; the two kits were apparently also playing, but it felt more like soccer or kick boxing. When the crowd started to bawl gleefully she looked down to the playing field, but the time out wasn’t over yet. A short glance to one of the jumbo screens offered an explanation: They were entertaining the fans with the kiss-cam again and right now an older lion was fiercely kissing a white lioness. Judy grinned but was distracted again by another kick in her tummy – when she was suddenly jostled from behind, nearly falling off her seat.

“Come here, sweetie-pie!” a young vixen with a Red Paws scarf and baseball cap that was sitting right behind Judy had thrown herself at Nick, not paying attention to the little rabbit she had inadvertently pushed from her seat. The howling got louder again, but Judy didn’t pay attention to it: Kiss-cam aside, but this was still her fox! With a quick and bold leap she jumped back on her seat, then on Nick’s lap, pratting the vixen away right before she could kiss him. Nick hadn’t yet fully realized what was going on and looked puzzled; at that very moment Judy made a dive for him and gave him a passionate and deep kiss. The fox made a quick recovery from his shock: He put his arms around the little bunny, raised her up grabbing her shoulders and bottom, leaned forward and replied her kiss equally.

Finnick – and the rest of the sold-out stadium via the jumbo screens – were watching them for at least ten seconds, jeering completely overcome with hysteria, until the unequal couple slowly parted again and two other mammals were shown on the kiss-cam.

“That was… unexpected, carrots” Nick grinned slyly at the slightly trembling bunny down in his arms.

“I just have a very deep territorial instinct, foxtrot” Judy grinned bemused with sparkling eyes.

 _“Okay, here we go again! Wow, what a steamy time out! Hopefully our red fox on the field is equally dedicated: Two down, nobody on, no score, bottom of the ninth! Batter Marvin Leika from the Zootopia Red Paws against pitcher John Saman from the Deerbrooke Eagles!”_ the stadium announcer spoke quick and excited while the players were entering their positions again.

“Cut the groping, Romeo!” Finnick shouted to Nick then started to jump excited on his seat: “GO RED PAWS!”

Judy and Nick snickered while he was putting her down again on her seat. The young vixen sitting behind Judy considered the rabbit with an envious look but finally winked at Judy with a smile and a thumbs-up. Then she jumped to her feet, joining in the howling for the Red Paws.

_“Pitcher is preparing his throw and… there it is! A line shot up the middle! Look at him go, this fox can really fly! He's rounding first and really turning it on now, not letting up at all! He's gonna try for second, the ball is bobbled out in center, and… here comes the throw! And what a throw! He's gonna slide in head first! Here he comes, he's out! No, wait, safe! Safe at second base, this mammal really makes things happen out there! Batter steps up to the plate! Here's the pitch! Leika's going, and what a jump he's got, a cheetah would fade out beside this red flash! He's really trying for third! Here's the throw… and it's in the dirt! Safe at third! Colorblind chameleon, stolen base! He's taking a pretty big lead out there, almost daring him to try and pick him off! The pitcher glances over, winds up… and it's bunted! Bunted down the third base line, the suicide squeeze is on! Here he comes, squeeze play, it's gonna be close, here's the throw, here's the play at the… stripeless zebra, I think he's gonna make it!!”_

* * *

They sat at a corner table in a pub near the stadium and all guests were in a wanton mood, singing and whooping it out – after the red fox Leika hit a home run, the Zootopia Red Paws won the match in the nick of time.

“That was incredible! I already saw us sitting there for another fifteen innings, and then – BAM!” Finnick banged his empty glass on the table. “The red flash strikes again, hitting a homerun in the bottom of the ninth with already two downs! You!” he pointed at Judy with a wide grin. “You are going to be the new mascot of the Red Paws after your performance!”

Judy snickered and blushed embarrassed. “Pipe down, before anyone hears you! I can’t think what came over me to be so unrestrained in the public, I’m going bright red with shame if anyone at the precinct or at home saw this…”

“Fiddlesticks!” Fin bellowed and called the waitress, ordering his third pitcher of beer.

“If there really is a recording, I want a copy by all means!” Nick laughed. “So much for a rabbit cannot go savage, I got totally jumped! Like, literally!” he winked at his shamefaced bunny who mumbled something opaque. Then he turned to Finnick: “But better forget that mascot idea quickly, I’m the only red fox – or mammal in general – who is going to savor this cutie!”

Judy punched against his shoulder, making Nick concurrently wince and laugh. “Dumb fox!” she stuck her tongue out at him but also grinned somewhat.

The waitress finally brought Finnick his beer and the fennec fox clinked his glass with Nick’s still first and half-full beer pitcher and Judy’s normal-sized glass with carrot-juice. “Whatever! We won and that calls for a drink! Cheers!”

* * *

“So Nick pushed that gazelle aside and said: ‘ _It’s all right, baby, I’ve had a course in first aid!_ ’ She stood up and just watched our foxy hero take that fainted sheep’s pulse and prepare to administer artificial respiration and at this point the gazelle just tapped him on the shoulder and said: ‘ _When you get to the part about calling a doctor, I’m already here’_ ”. Finnick finished his story and burst into some loud and bousy laughter, slapping Nick on his thighs; Judy quickly joined in with her bright giggling.

They had spent nearly two hours in the pub after the baseball game, having a great time together talking about the past. When they decided to leave, Nick noticed that he had left his phone at their apartment and Judy had forgotten to charge hers last night so the battery was drained. So Finnick offered to drive them home with his van, but of course he was already way too drunk. Eventually the couple could persuade the fennec fox that Judy would drive his van instead and he could stay overnight in their guestroom to sleep off in return.

“I just tried to be helpful” Nick sighed with a lopsided sneer while his little bunny was already searching for a parking space in front of their apartment complex.

“With all due respect to your intentions, foxtrot” Judy was still giggling. “But in retrospective the whole situation is just hilarious”.

“Watch out, Hoppsy-Copsy!” Finnick suddenly called out in mild panic when Judy reversed into a small parking space, but she just kept rolling and stopped the van with a perfect fit.

“I learned to drive on my parent’s farm when I was thirteen. Your van is just a compact car compared to our farm tractor” she winked with a grin while pulling out the ignition key.

“Nobody likes show-offs, ye know?” the fennec fox snarled but Nick just snickered.

“Try going on patrol with her all day”, he laughed while opening the door and jumped onto the sidewalk.

“It couldn’t be worse than tolerating you for six years”. Finnick hit out on Nick’s offer to help him out of the van, jumped and made a tipsy landing beside the red fox.

“Careful, or you two can sleep in the van tonight” Judy smirked slyly while walking around the car, one paw on her hip.

“I would prefer my sly bunny, but it wouldn’t be the first time I’d spend the night with Fin in his van”, Nick laughed and put his arm around Judy’s shoulders, giving her a soft kiss between the ears.

“No way, now that I know about you having a yen for small-ones with large ears!” Finnick wagged his paw at him, then looked around. “Wow, and you’re really living in this swanky neighborhood? Didn’t know that the filth is making such a packet! Or are you holding out your paws?” he snarled.

Judy’s ears bobbed up immediately but Nick was faster and knocked the fennec fox with the paw on his head. “Never ever assume something like this again if you don’t want me to go savage on you!” He smiled slightly, but his voice sounded somewhat threatening.

Finnick was too drunk to notice it, though, and just snickered: “Just joking, redhead. After you!”

Judy rolled her eyes and sighed, twitching on Nick’s shirt: “Okay, it’s house number 16. Let’s go, I’ve really got a thrill of anticipation for a hot and steamy bath and some snuggling on the couch. With Nick, not you Fin!” she winked.

“Naa, no interest bunny. Also, never tamper with the partner of a friend, it’s still Bro before Ho… eh… Hopps!”

Judy narrowed her eyes with a sassy grin. “Oh, you have no idea what you’re missing out, we bunnies are really enthusiastic!”

They entered the house with their keycard and Nick called the elevator. “And I would definitely prefer to share this enthusiasm with nobody”, he gave her a soft kiss on the cheek and Judy smiled at him.

“Don’t worry, I’ve no intentions of having it any other way”.

“Not even with Evelin?” Nick giggled and when Judy looked embarrassed and shocked he started to laugh. “Just joking, sweetheart!”

“Who is Evelin?” Finnick slurred.

“She is my sister and best friend and no, I’m definitely not into her _this_ way! That was just a very strange dream, and _you_ were _not supposed_ to talk about it!” Judy blushed and punched Nick on his arm really hard this time.

They entered the elevator and Nick pushed the button for the fifth floor, still snickering. “Don’t worry, Fin is too drunk to remember it tomorrow and I’m not blaming you for your dreams, carrots. Mine are much nastier sometimes”, he winked.

“Oh, sweet cheese and crackers. Let’s just talk about something else, pretty please?” she looked up to him with those big and pleading eyes again that always melted Nick’s heart.

When the elevator stopped, Finnick left the cabin first and grinned: “I think I want to meet this Evelin, what do you think?”

“Who are you? How do you know my wife?!” Sven came running down the hallway excitedly to the elevator. He had obviously waited in front of Nick’s and Judy’s apartment door for a while and was quite nervous.

“Sven? What are you doing here?” Judy left the elevator, too, with a questioning look.

“Didn’t you want to pick up Evelin this afternoon?” Nick frowned a bit confused.

“She wasn’t out and about with you two then?” now Sven sounded really worried. “And you don’t know where she is?”

Judy smiled and put her arm soothingly around Sven’s shoulders. “Don’t worry, she didn’t feel too well and was quite exhausted at midday today. She probably fell asleep and didn’t hear the doorbell; come on, we are going to surprise her”.

Sven was still worried, but Judy’s explanation sounded reasonable.

“How long have you been waiting here?” Nick went ahead, fumbling for the latchkeys in his pocket.

“Three hours, more or less. I tried to call you both, but was only forwarded to your mailboxes. The same for Evelin. Because of this I thought you were maybe together in the cinema and just forgot the time…”

When Nick opened the door, Sven broke away from Judy and quickly walked into the apartment. “Whiskers?”

“Who’s that rabbit now?” Finnick asked Nick while Judy hurried after Sven.

“Eve?” Judy called.

Both foxes entered the apartment last and Nick closed the door again. “That’s Sven, Evelin’s husband. Sorry, she is already taken, too” he winked but paused suddenly and slowly scented the air.

“Evelin?” – it was Sven’s voice again, coming from the guestroom.

“Nick!” Judy yelled and sounded excited for the first time.

The red fox hurried into the living room and stopped right beside Judy who looked bewildered over the room: Two chairs were overturned as well as a flower vase and some decoration from the couch table. On one corner of the table some blood was visible.

“Still not cleaning up the house, foxxer? Thought you would be more tidy since you got married”, Finnick snarled while entering the room slowly.

Judy was already kneeling in front of the couch table, examining the blood on the edge. “Maybe she fell and bumped her head against the table…”

“Maybe she was taken to the hospital, I will call them immediately!” Sven entered the room in the meantime, too, terrified, noticing the mess and the blood.

Nick on the other hand walked slowly to the kitchen counter, sniffing on some flowers. “Since when do we have scorpion grass?”

“You mean Myosotis Sylvatica? We don’t have any, it’s not in season right now”, Judy  answered and slowly stood up again. “And this is only a small stain of blood on the table, I don’t think it’s from a severe injury”.

“It’s up to you how you are calling them, but we have a vase with a single flower on our kitchen counter”, Nick was picking up an envelope with his name written on it.

“That’s strange, maybe Eve had picked them up”, Judy walked to Nick, looking confused at the flower vase, then noticed the envelope in his paws. “What’s that?”

“Don’t know yet…” he showed her the envelope and could smell that Judy was getting really nervous.

“I just talked with the emergency department of the hospital, no rabbit was hospitalized today! Did you find anything new?” Sven hurried back into the living room, being even more nervous than Judy.

In the meantime, Nick had carefully opened the envelope and pulled out a small letter, reading it quietly and getting a more and more serious facial expression. When he noticed all eyes looking questioningly at him, he slowly gave the ransom note to Judy who read out loud, getting more pale with every line:

_“Where have all the flowers gone  
_ _Long time passing?  
_ _Where have all the flowers gone  
_ _Long time ago?  
_ _Where have all the flowers gone  
_ _Young bunnies picked them everyone.  
_ _When will they ever learn?_

_Where has this little bunny gone  
_ _Long time passing?  
_ _Where has this little bunny gone  
_ _Long time ago?  
_ _Where has this little bunny gone  
_ _I snatched her, missed by anyone?  
_ _Then better pay for her”._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Many thanks to Sean Dalglish for his review and proofreading this chapter! (Apr 2017)


	7. Scorpion Grass

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sven got a nervous breakdown when he realized that the strange poem they had found in Nick's and Judy's apartment is a ransom note by the so called Forget-me-not kidnapper: He is kidnapping female preys of wealthy families and always leaves behind a ransom letter with a poem and a vase with a single forget-me-not flower. For Judy the stress in finally too much, passing out into Finnicks arms while Nick is calling their colleagues. After the head of the BAU department, Detective Marki, prepared a plan to rescue Evelin, Nick is getting dubious about the profile: Too much little mistakes that he has no explanation for. But Marki reminded him, that he is just a victim in this case, not a ZPD officer. Finally, the kidnapper is calling ...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>   
>  [ ](http://zootopiachronicl.es/chapter/3x07.html)
> 
> ### You can find more information about the story on _[ZootopiaChronicl.es](http://zootopiachronicl.es/chapter/3x07.html)_ , including an audio drama! 

> _“I will hurt you for this. I don't know how yet, but give me time. A day will come when you think yourself safe and happy, and suddenly your joy will turn to ashes in your mouth, and you'll know the debt is paid.”_  
>   
>  George R.R. Martin, A Clash of Kings 
> 
> * * *

Evelin was glad that Sven had called and offered to pick her up in Zootopia on his way back home. Celebrating Judy’s, Ralph’s and Clara’s birthday together was really fun, but it was really exhausting with her pregnancy and the train ride consequentially tedious. Also, she had started to miss Sven as he had spent a lot of time working at the office in over the last few months for their newest project. But finally, it seemed to pan out now, just some formal paperwork was still pending.

When her siblings and Nick hit the road after a quick lunch to get to the station, Evelin reclined on the couch and flipped through some magazine. She dozed off eventually and awoke with a start when the doorbell rang. On her way to the door she yawned; she would have to make some coffee for herself and Sven before they leave, they’ll be driving for at least nearly two hours. While unlocking the door, she scented some fresh flowers – forget-me-not if she was right. What a nice gesture from Sven!

“Hey, darling! Great to see y…” she opened the door beaming with joy, but paused when it wasn’t her husband that stood in front of her, but a muscular ram. “Oh, sorry. I thought you were someone else. Can I help you?”

The voice of the ram was little more than a whisper and made Evelin instinctively shiver: “Are you Misses Hopps?”

“Well, yes, but…” the rabbit couldn’t complete the sentence, because in the same moment the ram prized the door open with its shoulder and took something out of their pocket that looked similar to a gun. With a shocked squeal Evelin jumped back into the hallway, turned around and leaped to the living room – trying to reach her phone or at least something she could use as a defense. She sidestepped between the chairs at the dining table, but the ram was closing in on her and just kicked the chairs out of his way. Maybe she could barricade herself in Nick and Judy’s bedroom? It had a quite massive wooden door with a lock. The bunny jumped frantically onto the couch table, another bold leap and she could turn the corner to the corridor leading to the bed- and bathroom. But the moment she tensed her legs for the saving jump, something sharp hit her on the back and she immediately got weak knees. Just moments later everything became blurred and she realized that she was falling down. When her head hit something hard, the world around her finally turned numb and black.

* * *

When Judy finished reading the letter aloud, her paws were shaking.

“What are you talking about? What does that mean? Where is Evelin?!” Sven was nearly losing it, his voice trembling and high-pitched.

Finnick stood dumbfounded next to the door, the alcohol clouding his mind and all those loud and excited rabbits were way too much to handle right now. Hadn’t Nick said something about a guest bed earlier? He looked to his friend, but Nick was currently using his phone. Irritated, the little fox let himself fall onto a pillow that was lying on the floor.

Nick entered the emergency number into his smartphone and started to shove Sven in the direction of the hallway: “We must leave the apartment immediately, Sven, this is a crime scene now!”

“What is with Evelin? What’s the point of all this, was…” Sven gesticulated and sounded desperate, panicking, but Nick had put his paw onto his shoulder and softly pushed him towards the door.

“That’s a ransom note, it seems that…” he suddenly paused, then continued to speak with a calm and distinct voice into the phone: “This is Officer Nicholas Wilde, 10-10A, badge number 3-0-3-7-8. We have a 2-0-7, Code 2!”

In the meantime, a pale Judy walked towards Finnick, her voice was thin and trembling when she spoke: “Sorry, you have to leave the apartment, too. It’s a crime scene and our colleague…” Judy didn’t complete the sentence, though; her eyes were rolling and then she suddenly fainted, quickly caught by a surprised and quietly cursing Finnick.

“Nick! Come over here! There’s something wrong with your bunny!” he screeched angrily under the sudden weight.

The fox had just radioed their address, still trying to persuade Sven to leave the flat, and turned around with a worried look on his face. When he saw Finnick struggling to hold the unconscious rabbit with his arms, he nearly dropped the phone.

“Bloody hell! Also 10-43, unconscious mammal, Code 2!” he yelled into his phone and ran back to the living room. “What happened, Fin?” he asked with mild panic in his voice, taking her pulse first, then softly stroked over her cheek.

“I have no idea”, the little fox babbled roughly. “One moment she was bundling me off and the next thing I know is, she is lying on top of me”.

Nick put his arms under Judy’s legs and head, lifted her up and looked around at a loss. He couldn’t bring her into their bedroom or to the couch, as both was part of the possible crime scene. Sven had followed him back into the living room, looking worried at his sister-in-law.

“Sweet cheese and carrots, what happened?” he asked, now even more desperate.

“I don’t know… can you help Finnick, please? We should wait outside for our colleagues and a doctor”. Nick tried his best to keep calm and concentrated, carrying Judy to the front door. Outside of their apartment he slowly sat down on the floor, took off his coat and leaned himself against the wall. After gently bedding his little bunny on his lap, he tucked her into his coat and stroked over her head with trembling paws.

Sven had collected Nick’s phone and guided the fennec fox to the hallway. While Sven squatted worried beside Nick and Judy, Finnick snarled: “I’m in the back of my van if ye need me. Don’t wanna talk with yer other fuzz friends, redhead”. Nick wanted to object, but was distracted when Judy moved somewhat and muttered quietly. When he looked up again with a pleading look on his face, his drunk friend was already entering the elevator and the red fox sighed.

“Who was that fox? A friend of yours?” Sven asked with a weary voice and Nick nodded slowly. “And he is really bailing on you now? Wow…” he crawled over Judy’s cheek.

“He is okay, he… just don’t like cops and also drank too much” Nick talked quietly and smiled softly when Judy slowly opened her eyes again. “Hey, carrots”.

“Nick… what happened?” she tried to sit up but was still too dizzy.

“You scared the heck out of us, Ju” Sven stroked over her head and ears, but still seemed absent-minded.

“Evelin!” Judy gasped suddenly and nearly passed out again.

“Shh… keep calm and take a deep breath. I already called our colleagues, they should arrive any minute and I also called for a doctor”.

“Did you call Doctor Alisson?” she asked quietly.

“No, I ordered one via the emergency call. It’s Sunday evening, I don’t think that Doctor Alisson is available now”, the fox talked soothingly.

“She has a phone number for emergencies, it’s saved in our address book”. When Nick wanted to object, she closed her eyes and contorted with pain. “Nick, please… I don’t want some foreign and over-worked doctor on call to examine me”.

Nick sighed and nodded slowly, Judy always felt uneasy with medics but came to trust Doctor Alisson by now. He was looking in his pants pockets for his phone but Sven still had it in his paw and asked: “Let me give you a hand, what should I dial?”

“It’s Doctor Kathrin Alisson, you should use the mobile number”, Judy answered and turned her face to Sven. “I’m so sorry because of Evelin. Our colleagues will find her, I’m sure. They are really good at their job”.

“Can you lend me your phone in the meantime?” Nick asked his brother-in-law. “I have to call our dispatcher to cancel the doctor on call”.

The male rabbit just nodded gloomily, gave Nick his own phone and stood up, strolling up and down the hall. “Hello? Good evening, Doctor Alisson. My name is Sven Brooks, I’m the brother-in-law of one of your patients, Misses Judy Hopps-Wilde…”

Meanwhile Nick quickly dialed the number of the ZPD reception desk to cancel the called doctor; Judy’s thoughts drifted away to Evelin, the mess in their living room and the ransom note. She still couldn’t conceive the whole situation and what happened; why was Evelin of all people kidnapped? And why while she was staying at their home? Her head and chest were aching viciously and she closed her eyes again, groaning quietly.

“… yes, she is conscious again, but she is still in pain. Yes, her husband is currently caring for her. Okay… yes, the address is correct. Thank you, till later then”. Sven hung up the call, then squatted again beside Nick and Judy. “You should take one of your pills for the pain, drink some water and stay in bed. Doctor Alisson will arrive in about twenty minutes”, he tried to smile comfortingly and put his paw on Judy’s arm.

She just nodded; Nick swapped phones with Sven and said quietly: “Thank you”. He reached into his pants pocket and pulled out the small pillbox.

“I’ll ask  your neighbors for a glass of water” Sven stood up again, trying to stay busy to not go insane.

Nick nodded and eventually put one of the small pills into Judy’s mouth; she swallowed it whole and grimaced.

“Where’s Finnick?” she turned her head somewhat to look for the small fox.

“He said that he would lay down in his van. You know he doesn’t like cops, also he’s drunk and would not be much help, anyway”, Nick answered but Judy was suddenly all teary-eyed and started to sob quietly. He cradled her a bit tighter, stroking her head.

“Do you have a tissue?” she sniveled quietly. “I don’t want to look tear-stained when our colleagues arrive”.

The fox searched in his pockets, then pulled out a handkerchief and handed it to Judy who blew her nose and wiped off some tears. Sven walked back to them, a small water bottle in his paws.

“Here, Ju… have a sip and best wishes from your neighbors, those lions”, he said with a trembling voice when his ears suddenly bobbed up and he turned his head towards the elevator. When the doors opened, he quickly walked towards the four mammals in uniform – a jaguar, two wolfs and a lion – and started to talk insistently to them.

“Who is it?” Judy was still too weak to sit up and asked Nick who held one paw up to greet their colleagues.

“Marki, Bradley, Wolford and Delgato” Nick said quietly and took the bottle she was handing him back.

“The department head of the BAU and our chief forensic technician? Are things in such a bad way?” Judy sounded worried but had problems keeping her eyes open and didn’t hear Nick’s answer.

“Nick, sorry to see you again under such circumstances”. It was Detective Marki who approached them first, shaking Nick’s paw. “Are you okay, Judy?” the wolf looked worried to the pale rabbit who just slowly shook her head in silence.

“She didn’t feel well the whole day already and passed out earlier, now being in pain. I already called our doctor, but she really should go to bed. We didn’t want to compromise the crime scene, though, maybe you can perpetuate evidence and give clearance for the bedroom first”, Nick explained as calm as possible, but the quiet pleading in his voice and his uneasy facial expression of course didn’t slip the profilers attention.

Marki nodded and after Wolford and Delgato also greeted their colleagues quietly, the three officers entered the apartment. Bradley came last and had an aluminum suitcase with forensic equipment in each paw.

“Your friend said you found a ransom note with a poem?” the jaguar asked after a short greeting.

Nick nodded slowly, “The letter was in an envelope with my name written on it, laying on our kitchen counter. Sven can show you where exactly. I think Judy dropped it near the couch table when she passed out”, he turned his head to Evelin’s husband who nodded eagerly and followed Bradley into the apartment, too. The fox cradled his little bunny who was out of things again and sighed. This turned out to really be a month of hell.

* * *

The first thing Evelin perceived was a moldy smell, then her headache, a hard underground she was laying on, a pain in her muscles and finally some rope she was constrained with. Her mouth was bound with a gag and when she tried to blink she noticed a rough blindfold. When she noticed the slow movement of her kits in her belly, she breathed more calmly. What had happened? Evelin remembered the birthday weekend with Judy and her older siblings. They wanted to take the train back to Bunnyburrow, didn’t they? No – she was feeling exhausted and Sven called. She fell asleep on the couch while reading something.

A cold breeze blew over her legs and the rabbit shivered, she only wore a large and convenient dress. The wind came through little cracks, she could hear it sough through some broken windows. Some metal rustled against metal. Maybe an old storage building? Or a basement? Her muscles were still aching and even without the rope she would be unable to move. Where for carrots sake was she? And why was she here? It was getting harder to concentrate and finally the world vanished behind a black and blurry curtain again.

* * *

Wolford and Delgato examined Nick and Judy’s living room, the turned over chairs, the broken decoration on the couch table and the blood on the table itself. All of it was signed with a small number and was photographed, then Wolford started to examine the blood stain on the table closer with some chemicals. Delgato used a forensic light and colored glasses to search for other evidence that’s not visible in normal light. Bradley had digitally scanned the ransom note and sent it to his office for further examinations and now were connecting the landline to his computer and paired Sven’s, Judy’s and Nick’s cellphones via Bluetooth with a spy-tool to record and track incoming calls.

Marki examined the main bedroom and the bathroom, now talking quietly on his radio when another elderly rabbit he didn’t know suddenly entered the apartment. “Excuse me, Ma’am, but this is a crime scene and no visitors are currently allowed in this flat”.

“So you are the Officer in charge?” the rabbit asked and Marki nodded.

“Yes, Ma’am, and you are?”

“I’m Doctor Kathrin Alisson and the family doctor of Misses and Mister Hopps-Wilde. As you could possible already notice, Misses Hopps-Wilde is not only pregnant but also not in good condition. I just want to ask how much longer it will take until we can bring her into her bedroom? Because I’m not able or willing to examine her publicly in the hallway and as stubborn as this young couple is, they also don’t want to go into my medical office or the hospital”. Doctor Alisson had rattled off quite a monologue, but wasn’t disrespectful to the Detective – just really determined to get the best result for her patient.

Marki smiled softly, and nodded to Delgato to examine the short hallway between the living room and the bedroom and bathroom with the forensic light next. “Please, give us just five more minutes for some last examinations and you can relocate Officer Hopps to her bedroom. I promise, it’s for her own good”.

Doctor Alisson nodded and walked with quick steps out of the apartment again. Nick was still sitting on the floor, holding Judy carefully in his arms and watching how she regained consciousness and lost it just a few moments later again.

“You can bring her into your bedroom in a few minutes”. The older rabbit squatted beside them and felt Judy’s forehead, took her pulse and then carefully palpated her stomach with her paw under the coach. “Your kids seem quite active, that’s a positive sign. But her forehead seems to be rather cold and her pulse is way too fast. Maybe it’s really just the shock, but you said she wasn’t feeling too well for the whole day?”

Nick nodded and quickly explained their shopping-tour and the party last night, and that Judy felt exhausted already for the whole day and seemed to have more pain than usual.

“I have some assumptions, but I want to examine her first. It’s good that you hold her the whole time in your coat it’s keeping her warm – and I bet listening to your heartbeat is also comforting to her. I would guess you don’t have to worry too much about her”. She smiled encouragingly, but Nick identified her assurance as just a commonplace phrase as she wasn’t sure yet. He said similar things to crime victims in the past to assure them that everything is under control and will get better, just to calm them down.

“Okay, Delgato and I have secured a path to the bedroom and gave clearance to that room. You can bring her there, Nick. But I want to talk to you later and for you, Doctor Alisson, I have to ask you to temporarily stay in that room with your patient, too. Just to make sure, nobody alters something in the other rooms”. Marki stood in the doorframe.

Nick nodded, and very slowly and carefully to not bump Judy’s head against the wall or doorframe, stood up and followed the Timber Wolf back into their apartment, Doctor Alisson with her doctor’s bag right behind them. While crossing the living room, Nick noticed Sven sitting with a nervous facial expression on one of the bar chairs at the kitchen counter, right beside Bradley and talking with the jaguar. Wolford was examining some fiber or fur under a small microscope. When they finally entered Nick’s and Judy’s own bedroom, Marki stood tactful at the doorframe, his face looking away from the room. The fox laid his little bunny carefully onto the big bed, shoved two pillows under her head and removed his coat, throwing it carelessly onto a nearby chair.

“Okay, thank you. Maybe it’s better if you two leave us now so I can examine her…” Doctor Alisson suggested with a friendly smile.

Marki nodded and already left the room, but when Nick wanted to go reluctantly, Judy suddenly put her paw on his arm. He turned his head and the rabbit had opened her eyes again for a moment, looking at him with a pleading facial expression. Nick put his own paw on hers and turned to their doctor.

“Would you mind if…” he began but didn’t need to speak any further.

“Of course, Mr. Hopps-Wilde. I want her to be comfortable, and when she wants you at her side that’s okay with me”. She smiled, put her stethoscope on and pulled a medical thermometer from her bag. She held the thermometer for only a moment into her ears until it beeped. “You have a slightly elevated temperature. Don’t worry, I have to lift your pullover up to listen to your heartbeat and that of your kits”.

Judy nodded slowly, her nearly closed eyes fixated on Nick the whole time, who was stroking his thumb over her paw that was still resting on his arm.

“Your brother said on the phone that you have some pain?” – Doctor Alisson asked and Judy nodded a bit. “In your chest?” – the little rabbit nodded again. “Also somewhere else?”, the doctor asked while palpating her stomach and belly. But it didn’t slip her attention, that Judy wasn’t answering immediately now. “Misses Hopps-Wilde?”

The rabbit grabbed Nick’s arm even tighter now, her eyes getting teary. “Judy? You have to tell us everything now, please”. Nick said soothingly, sensing that his little rabbit was getting more and more afraid.

A lot of her patients were somewhat embarrassed to talk about their female body parts, and this rabbit was even under shock and most probably afraid of something serious. It was essential to comfort her or the examination could even get painful, something Doctor Alisson didn’t want by no means. “You don’t need to be afraid, Judy. Your husband is at your side and I’m being as careful as possible. But I need to know what’s going on with your body to help you and your kits. Do you also have some pain in your womb area?” Doctor Alisson asked quietly and empathetically. After a few seconds Judy finally nodded and started to snivel. “Okay, I have to take a look if you are bleeding. I promise that I will be really careful and will not hurt you”. When Judy nodded again, she slowly started to unbutton Judy’s Jeans and turned to Nick. “Could you please close the door? We need some privacy here”.

“Shall I wait outside?” Nick asked quietly after getting up and already having the door knob in his paw.

“No… please…” Judy whispered quietly; Nick nodded and after closing the door he sat beside his little rabbit on the edge of the bed again. She was obviously afraid because of the reason for her pain, and that was also the reason she didn’t mention it before. Doctor Alisson had slowly undressed her Jeans and panties and had put on some gloves; while she started to examine the scared bunny, Nick looked into Judy’s eyes with a soft smile, crawling over her cheek and singing very quietly:

“Soft bunny, Warm bunny, Little ball of fur, happy bunny, sleepy bunny, purr purr purr”.

Judy smiled and finally calmed down somewhat.

“Okay, everything with your pregnancy seems to be fine so far. There is no sign for a pre-eclampsia, don’t worry”. The older rabbit took the blanket and covered her patient with it. “But I have to take a quick blood test to finish my diagnosis, it’s just a short pin-prick in your paw…” she took Judy’s paw in the meantime already and while speaking with her she had quickly pricked her and collected the few drops of blood with a control strip before Judy could even realize what was going on.

“You don’t have to worry because you fainted this evening. Your body is already massively enfeebled by your pregnancy and your injured chest, along with too little sleep. But the additional emotional stress of your sister being kidnapped right now was just too much and caused your whole body to shut down”.

“Why is this pregnancy such a massive stress for her? Her sister is a few weeks ahead and does feel much better, though” Nick still sounded worried.

“Crossbreeds often develop somewhat faster during pregnancy, that is not uncommon. Compared to a common rabbit pregnancy I would say your wife is already in her fourth or even fifth week, not her third. That’s causing quite some stress to her body, but as she’s only getting two kits that’s not really a problem right now”.

“Right now?” Judy whispered weary and terrified.

Doctor Alisson smiled and put her paw soothingly on Judy’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, Misses Hopps-Wilde. This is your first litter and with your fetuses being crossbreeds it will be somewhat more intense and exhausting, as your body has more to do than under normal circumstances. That’s also the reason your fetuses are consuming specific minerals and vitamins much faster than normal, making you feel tired. I will write a new prescription for you to compensate for this and even if it’s too early to be sure, but you should contemplate that a C-section will be the better option for birth. But that’s really nothing to worry about right now and we will have enough time to talk about the details together in the upcoming weeks”.

The older rabbit stopped shaking the control strip with the blood and looked at it, then nodded. “Well, that’s quite what I expected”. She put it down and pulled a small syringe and two small bottles with a clear fluid from her bag.

“Wait, what are you up to?” Nick asked worried.

“This is something to lower her IgG levels, it’s really harmless”, Doctor Alisson explained.

Judy started to look mildly panicked at Nick and the fox asked again. “What are those IgG levels, and why do you have to lower them? Is it something dangerous?”

Doctor Alisson smiled softly, put the syringe down and turned her head to them both while folding her paws. “Okay, to put it simply… part of our cells and an important part for our cell-cell interactions are so called glycoproteins. It’s not only an important part of the immune system but also for tasks such as cell trafficking or host-pathogen interactions. The most famous example for this latter effect is our blood system and the different blood groups. Well, rabbits naturally have different glycoproteins on the surface of their red blood cells as foxes, and they are not compatible. During reproduction between same species it’s only rarely a problem, a few of them have something that is called a rhesus factor that can be problematic under specific circumstances, but even if that’s not the problem here, it has the same effect. The proteins on the blood cells of your fetuses are a mold of fox and rabbit ones. Nothing harmful, in general, but your body, Judy, is already producing antibodies against those fox proteins. When I took a first blood test last week I already noticed this and it was also to be expected: You both are together for quite a while, sharing bodily fluids with every kiss, and…” she paused diplomatically and smiled. “Well, anyway, the concentration of antibodies wasn’t really high, yet, but as your pregnancy is proceeding rather fast, this can become more and more of a problem and that’s why I want to give you this, it reduces the fox-antibodies in your blood and keeps your fetuses safe”.

“Are you saying I’m allergic to Nick?!” Judy asked weepily.

“Your body just recognized foreign proteins and created antibodies against them. You could call it some sort of allergy, yes, but it is nothing harmful. There is only some small risk for the fetuses when being pregnant, but we can simply suppress your body’s natural reaction and everything will be fine, I promise”.

“And my additional pain is…?” Judy asked quietly.

“Your body is exhausted from healing your chest wound and as I said the pregnancy is way more demanding than it would normally be. Additionally, your immune system thinks it has to fight a non-existent infection. Your whole body is working at its limit right now, even a small tension can feel like a stab wound right now. But don’t worry, your two kits are even now really active and they both have a strong heartbeat. You just have to spare yourself even more, staying in bed or on the couch most of the time would be ideal”.

Judy nodded slowly and Nick smiled softly. “I will be even more watchful from now on, carrots”.

Doctor Alisson sterilized a small spot on Judy’s arm, gave her the injection and asked Nick to hold a dab of rouge on it for a few minutes. Judy babbled more and more quietly with Nick; he couldn’t understand a word but still stroked her cheek soothingly and gave her a kiss on the forehead. After a minute or two Judy’s eyes stayed closed and her arms went limp, breathing slowly and deeply.

“Doctor…?” Nick asked somewhat worried.

“It’s okay, Mister Hopps-Wilde. I also gave her a very light sedative. The whole evening was too much stress and she desperately has to sleep deeply without any pain for a few hours so her body can recover”. She pulled off a prescription from her pad and put it on the nightstand. “These are some new combined drugs to compensate her body’s increased needs during the pregnancy and you should try to keep her stress levels as low as possible, if you have any questions or there is only the slightest change in her wellbeing, just call me day or night!” she smiled. “I really hope you find her sister soon enough. She is also pregnant?”

“Yes, and as far as I know she is due in about a week or even less. We are really concerned, the rabbit in the next room is her husband”.

“Maybe you should also call me as soon as you find her sister and I will have a look at her, too. The doctor on call the ZPD calls in emergency cases isn’t really trained for pregnant mammals in such a late phase”.

Nick shook Doctor Alisson’s paw and smiled slightly. “Thank you, Doctor”. Then he turned his head to the closed door. “Well, I should go and talk with our colleagues. Can you stay with her for a while? I don’t want Judy to be alone right now”.

“Of course, I will just sit down on that chair over there. After you can enter the kitchen again it would be nice to get some tea, and also some water for Judy when she wakes up again”.

“I’m doing the best I can. See you later!” – Then he hesitated and leaned forward to Judy, giving her a soft kiss. “I love you”.

* * *

Evelin was sobbing quietly, everything was still dark around her and she was getting really cold. She had no idea how much time had passed since she opened the apartment door. Maybe two hours? Six hours? Even more? With every try to move the bonds on her arms and legs were cutting into her skin. She winced when she could hear some metal bar and the moving sound of a heavy door. Freezing in place she tried to listen to every sound or voice – there were hooves coming down a short wooden stairs, then walking on concrete floor in her direction. A big and heavy animal judging by his heavy breathing.

“You don’t need to simulate, Misses Hopps. I know that you are awake. I must confess that you are not one of my usual kind of victims, but my customer was very accurate with his wishes and is really paying good. But don’t worry, it’s not me who is going to kill you, I promise”. The voice was speaking very quiet, nearly whispering, but also deathly cold. With some quiet laughing he slowly walked away again and locked the door with some loud metal noise.

Evelin started only to sob at first, but soon she was weeping bitterly and started to pray, thinking of all her friends and family. She wasn’t ready to die and the panic was growing even bigger now.

* * *

“Okay, what’s the word guys?” Nick entered the living room with a weary look on his face, searching for Marki.

“Are you sure you’re okay, Nick?” Bradley asked worried, “I mean, of course you are not, but…”

“Just give me a short status update, Brad” the fox sighed and had a look around where Wolford and Delgato were writing notes for some evidence. Marki was sitting with Sven on some bar chairs at the kitchen counter, talking quietly, but Sven’s feet were shaking nervously.

Bradley nodded and started to explain: “We found some splinters of wood near the entrance door, but the lock itself is undamaged. It’s likely that the victim op…”

“Her name is Evelin” Nick said involuntarily, his voice maybe being one shade too harsh, but the jaguar just nodded.

“Of course. Well, it’s likely that Evelin opened the door after someone rang the doorbell. We found some partial prints, but they are useless. She was waiting for her husband and couldn’t use the peephole as it was above her reach. The intruder pushed the door open, presumably with his shoulders, so we can assume he is a rather large and strong mammal. Beside those wooden splinters we also found a single flick of fur of a male Ovis gmelini, a Mufflon. The DNA is in our database, it was found four years ago at another kidnapping crime-scene. But we have no name or face to it, sorry. We think that he didn’t get hold of her immediately, but the ra… I mean Evelin tried to flee through your living room. We are also not quite sure whereto she wanted to run, but most probably she tried to reach one of the rear rooms to barricade it up. Either the attacker finally outran her when she reached the table and they fought, therefore the blood. Or the attacker used something like a stun gun or a pole syringe to subdue her and she injured herself on the table while falling to the ground. Anyway the blood is of a female rabbit”.

Nick had walked a few meters to the couch table, squatted beside it and took a careful smell of her blood. The odor made him shiver slightly, but he could especially smell both Evelin’s scent and her pregnancy hormones. But there was something different. Something more chemical. He took another sniff and closed his eyes. The scent of rabbit blood was overwhelming, but by now he was used to it and could block it out – there was something else… not from the blood stain, but in the close proximity.

“Everything okay, Nick?” Bradley asked worried, but the fox just lifted his paw and concentrated on the smell. He then lowered his head to the carpet and moved a bit to the side. After he took a last long sniff, he hold his paw up again and asked for some chalk. Without knowing what Nick had found, Bradley gave him a piece of chalk they used to mark small evidence on clothes and similar materials. The fox made a small circle on the carpet, then got up again.

“You should take a sample from this spot. Something chemical dropped onto it, maybe a narcotic substance”.

“Are you sure?” Wolford stepped beside Bradley with a skeptical look on his face. “I examined the whole couch table and the carpet, but couldn’t scent anything but the rabbit blood – and I’m trained to differentiate a lot of scents”.

“It’s not your fault, Wolford”, Nick said quietly. “I have just spent enough time with rabbits to recognize other smells that are overlapped by their hormones and even if it’s really subtle, it’s definitely not from a rabbit or something natural altogether”.

Wolford just shrugged his shoulders, he didn’t want to argue with someone who was clearly under stress and one more sample couldn’t do any harm. He took a cotton swab and even cut a few fibers of the carpet – bagging both as evidence and labeling it for their forensic lab.

Marki had finished his talk with Sven and was currently talking with Delgato, so Nick walked up to his brother-in-law and carefully put his paws on his shoulders. As expected, Sven winced terrified, but sighed relieved when he saw the fox.

“Oh Nick!” he sobbed and flung his arms around his neck. Nick softly patted his back and waited for the rabbit to become calm again. “How could this happen? I mean, why does someone even kidnap a pregnant mammal, that’s just cruel! Evelin has never done any harm to anyone, she is the purest and most kind-heartedness Rabbit!” Sven sounded desperate and Nick sighed again.

“Even if it’s only a weak solace for you, but I don’t think that they wanted to kidnap Evelin”.

“What are you talking about, Nick? They sure didn’t kidnap her unintentionally!”

“I think that this is exactly what happened” Nick said quietly.

“I see you are thinking the same as me”, Marki said, suddenly standing behind them.

“What are you two talking about? Officer? Nick?” Sven’s voice was trembling.

Marki looked questioningly to Nick who breathed deeply: “Two rabbits, both sisters of nearly the same age, looking almost the same, both pregnant, kidnapped from our apartment, the ransom note that is addressed with my name… all evidence suggests that they wanted to kidnap Judy, not Evelin, but they mixed them both up”.

The timber wolf nodded impressed. “Even under stress you still have the ball under your feet and prove to have a sharp mind. Yes, we leaped to the same conclusion – when her sister opened the door to your apartment, they saw an almost similar looking and pregnant rabbit and thought they caught Judy. This is also the reason why the ransom note is addressed to you, Nick, and not you, Mister Brooks”. The chief of the behavior analysis unit viewed Nick carefully, then asked slowly: “Any other deductions?”

“I have no interest to give you a great show, there is no time to play games! We don’t have a quarter-million Zollars and until now _he_ was always clever enough to only blackmail those families who could theoretically pay the ransom money. Kidnapping Evelin or Judy is abnormal” Nick said on edge.

“What?! A quarter-million Zollars ransom money?? But… but wherefrom… I mean, there said nothing in that letter, wherefrom do you know this amount? Did you find another note? NICK!?” Sven’s desperate pinched-up voice was nearly screaming.

Marki whispered something to Wolford and then turned to Sven: “Please calm down, Mister Brooks. Right now it’s only a working hypothesis and we cannot be sure that…”

“Where is Evelin?! What have you done to my wife, you scumbag of a bloodthirsty predator!!” the rabbit was getting out of control, jumped against the dumbstruck fox and started to beat him fiercely. Nick just held his arms up in front of his face but refrained from fighting back. Sven didn’t know what he was doing, his very pregnant wife was kidnapped and he was a nervous wreck. It hurt – not the punches, but the accusations – but he knew that the rabbit didn’t mean it and was just desperate.

Marki grabbed Sven and easily secured him to the floor, holding him tight. In the meantime, Wolford came back with a worried looking Doctor Alisson in tow. But even before she could say anything, Marki already held a small device against Sven’s arm and only seconds later the rabbit’s body went limp.

Nick pulled himself together and wanted to protest, but Wolford already lifted the rabbit up and carried him to the guestroom, a ranting and raving Doctor Alisson hurrying behind: “Using those tranquilizer guns without an emergency is just wrong, I could have given him something to just relax somewhat instead of brutally knocking him off like a savage predator! That was absolutely unnecessary!”

Marki got up on his feet again. “Your friend was panicking the whole evening and his nervous breakdown just now forced me into action. I understand that he is worried about his wife, but attacking another ZPD officer was stretching the point and I didn’t want to arrest him, either. This was the best option in my opinion”.

Nick disagreed with Marki, this was indeed absolutely unnecessary. After all, the timber wolf was the department head of the behavioral analysis unit, he knows exactly how stressful this situation must be and how helpless and abused Sven must have felt. Holding him down, talking to him – that would have been appropriate. But stunning a small and unarmed rabbit with a tranquilizer gun that could knock out even elephants? That was definitely an over-reaction Nick would have never expected from this mammal.

But for now he tried to block out those thoughts, Evelin was in need of his full concentration right now. He guessed there would be some interesting talks with Doctor Carter about it in the next few days about ‘trusting your colleagues’ again…

“Delgato, Wolford. You two bring our evidence to the lab, we only have a short time frame and need the results as fast as possible!” The two officers nodded, took two boxes with bags and other materials and left the apartment while Marki took the fox by his arm and they walked a few meters, finally sitting down on the couch.

“Okay, Wilde. How much do you know exactly?” Marki asked with a calm but attentive voice.

Nick breathed deeply and closed his eyes, going through his memory palace, searching for the information…

“He calls himself the Forget-me-not Kidnapper”, the red fox slowly started after a short while. “He always leaves the same ransom note together with a vase and a single forget-me-not flower, also called Scorpion Grass, at the scene of the kidnapping. The letter itself is always the same first two verses of the poem ‘Where have all the flowers gone’, originally written as a song by a badger named Pete Seeger. But he replaces the word ‘children’ from the original with the species of the kidnapped animal, always being a female prey of a wealthy family. A few hours after the kidnapping he contacts the dependents, with a ransom demand in the amount of 250, 000 Zollars, to be transferred to a foreign-numbered account within 12 hours. There is only this one-time contact, he never calls a second time and there are no further negotiations. When the money is transferred, the kidnapped victim is released within a few hours, often confused and disoriented. But if nobody paid the full amount after those 12 hours, the victim is never found or heard of again – supposedly being dead. No corpse was ever found after that, it’s currently unknown what he does with them. The perpetrator was called by the press the Forget-me-not kidnapper because of the flower that’s left behind. There are eight known cases, five times the family had payed and got the kidnapped mammal back. The last time it is known that he was active is six years ago – not counting tonight”.

Nick finished his recital and Marki stayed quite for a while. “That is exactly what we wrote in our internal profile. Maybe not word-for-word, but… I’m still bowled over”.

“I read most of the profiles of former and current serial offenders during Judy’s profiler training and I’m good at… remembering things, Sir”. Nick smiled wearily; he recognized the specific signature of the kidnapper the moment he read the poem. But he also knew, that relatives are always the main suspects during a kidnapping, and his special knowledge and the fact that it was ‘ _accidentally_ ’ Evelin who was waiting in their apartment made him probably even more suspicious.

The timber wolf was still viewing him quietly, presumably thinking about the possibility of Nick being involved in the crime somehow.

“You already proved that you have an exceptional memory on Bale’s case and your keen perception would make you quite a talented profiler”.

Nick didn’t react to Marki’s comment. “But the profile gives no explanation wherefrom the kidnapper knows if the family is basically able to pay the ransom money or not. He never kidnapped someone when there was nothing to get. It’s assumed that there is some sort of insider, but in this case now? I swear on my unborn kits life, that our savings are nowhere near enough. We are doing fine, but 250.000 Zollars? That’s just impossible”.

Marki nodded slowly, “That’s a strange discrepancy to his usual behavior. But we already have a plan”, he waved his paw to Bradley, who was currently typing on his mobile computer. The jaguar walked up to them, putting his computer down on the table. “Explain our plan to Nick, Brad. I’m going to check on the wellbeing of the victim’s husband” Marki said and walked over to the guestroom.

Nick clenched his fists – their names were ‘Sven’ and ‘Evelin’! Would it be too much to ask to treat them as mammals and not just some anonymous person of interest? He just wasn’t able to keep a sufficient emotional distance – the offenders were degrading their victims already, shouldn’t the ZPD be somewhat better?

“Okay, as soon as we get the account number from the kidnapper, I’m using one of our newest tools to hack into the bank account”, Bradley started to explain and Nick turned his attention to the jaguar. “Then I can manipulate the incoming and outgoing transfers and also put a tracer on the account. We are creating virtual transfers as if someone is really transferring money to that account. At the same time, we get informed by the tracer whenever someone accesses the account to check it’s balance”, Bradley explained with some pride in his voice.

“Isn’t hacking into the banking account illegal and could cause trouble during a lawsuit? Maybe we should just ask the bank for their cooperation”, Nick asked, having no interest to let some criminals get away because of a formal error.

“We are cooperating with most domestic banking institutes, but with foreign banks it’s often a week-long wrangling. That’s what’s ‘ _Samaritan’_ is for, that’s the name of the tooling. It leaves no traces on its own and we only use it with a judicial writ, so theoretically there are no problems during a lawsuit. The only problem is, that we only have a short time frame to react: When someone tries to access the virtual transfers, the tracer informs us about their location. But as these transfers are not real, the verification during a remittance or a withdrawal fails after a short while and the whole illusion will be corrected by the original banking servers”.

“So we can only hope that they are just having a short look at their balance and they release Evelin before they try to cover their traces by transferring everything to a few other accounts?” Nick sounded contrite about that plan.

“Yes, that’s a risk. But without using real money transfers I can do nothing to prevent this”.

“I’m still not sure if they are really after that money. They already proved to have changed their selection of kidnapping victims. What if they want something different? Or they want the money in cash this time? We are setting up the whole plan on just an early assumption!” Nick protested.

“You have to learn to trust on the profile, Wilde!” Marki said with a nearly commanding voice. “You heard Bradley, it takes some time to fake those transfers and even after that we have to act really quickly before they notice it’s only an illusion. The Forget-me-not Kidnapper has been following the same scheme now for more than six years. It’s working because most kidnappers are caught due to long negotiations or during an in-person money-transfer. He perfected his method, but that also makes it predictable”.

“And it’s also proof that this kidnapper is not dumb. He wouldn’t kidnap someone when the family isn’t at least theoretically able to pay! But he is not only doing this one mistake, but trying to kidnap a cop? And then even mixing-up the victims? Those are three serious mistakes done by someone who didn’t make a single one in six years!”

“OK, that’s enough, Wilde. I appreciate your help as you are a colleague, but you’re also only a victim. We know exactly what we are doing, so better have a look for your wife and keep calm until we get this phone ca…”

The landline was ringing in this very moment, the tracking software showed an unknown caller somewhere in Zootopia. Bradley pushed a few buttons to start the recording and location tracking, then gave a sign with his paw to Nick to answer the phone.

* * *

“What do you mean, I didn’t kidnap the right rabbit? She looks exactly like on your photo and she was even at home when…” the ram snarled angrily through the phone.

“You dare to contradict me?” the voice wasn’t more than a scary whisper.

“No, never! I’m sorry! It won’t happen again!” the ram answered quickly and ruefully. “I will kill her immediately and will disperse all evidence”.

“No, not yet. Maybe this is a fortunate coincidence and we’ll get them both to suffer even more now. Continue with phase two, I will take care of the rest”.

“Phase two, understood!”

The phone call between the two conspirators ended and the ram contritely walked up and down the small room. He had never made an error in all these years! The ram tried to calm down again, he would need all of his energy this evening. With a dark grin he took Evelin’s phone, dialed a written down number and when someone answered it he started to playback the pre-recorded message.

* * *

When Nick answered the phone call, the song ‘Where have all the flowers gone’ was running in the background like it was being played by a wooden music box. A distorted, mechanical voice said slowly: “250.000 Zollars, account number 1-1-6-0-6-7-0-3-6-0-3-5-0-7-0-0-4. Or your little bunny is gone forever in twelve hours”.

The call already ended even before Nick could say a single word. He turned around to Bradley who was already typing a lot of commands into his computer. Marki was already on the radio, ordering the special weapons and tactical task force as assistance to go into standby, waiting for a location.

Nick slowly walked to the bedroom. Marki made it clear, that he was no longer part of this investigation and his opinion no longer asked for. Maybe the wolf was right, he was definitely emotionally involved and not objective. When he entered his and Judy’s bedroom, he saw his wife sleeping peacefully and with an eased facial expression. Nick sat down on the floor, leaning against Judy’s nightstand, and laid his head on the mattress, his nose touching the rabbits arm gently. While stroking his thumb over her paw, he took a deep breath, letting her scent taint his senses. But his only thoughts were of Evelin, trying to imagine how she must feel right now, and how he was unable to do anything to help or support Judy’s little sister.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Most of you seem to like Evelin and Sven, even they are OC. So I thought I would spend them both a bit more attention... sorry for the cliffhanger :)  
> The next chapter is already finished, but has to be proofread before I will publish it. Still searching readers who are willing to help me fix errors or to review a chapter and give me their feedback before I publish it. Just leave a comment how I can contact you if you are interested!


	8. There is a Limit to Everything

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The ZPD was doing it’s best to find the kidnapped Evelin, but all investigations proved useless right now. Finally, Nick decides to take matters into his own hands: A decision he will have to pay a high price for, having to make an impossible decission. After the fox also vanished, Chief Bogo is assuming control of the investigations. However, what he and his colleagues found made even him losing his tongue. The Internal Investigations Department is impeding the investigations further. And when Judy decides to do her own thing against Chief Bogo’s direct orders, Sven has to ask himself how far he is willing to go to rescue his wife.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [ ](http://zootopiachronicl.es/chapter/3x08.html)
> 
> ### You can find more information about this chapter, the story and the **audio drama** on _[ZootopiaChronicl.es](http://zootopiachronicl.es/chapter/3x08.html)_!
> 
> **This is still the unedited version of the chapter, as Sean isn't done with proofreading, yet. But I didn't want to let you wait any longer, so you can give it an early read now - or you can wait a bit longer and get the proofread version. Your decision :)**

> _“When you find that one person who connects you to the world, you become someone different, someone better. When that person is taken from you, what do you become then?”  
>   
>  John Reese (Person of Interest)_

* * *

### 20:47 o’clock, Hopps-Wilde’s apartment (work room)

“The caller ID identified the mobile number of Evelin Hopps in Bunnyburrow, so he used his victim’s device. No GPS data available, but the cell-tower triangulation is still going-on, done in ten minutes! Right now trying to access the device via remote commands, but it seems that the batteries were removed” Bradley announced while Marki was still on the radio. In parallel he identified the account number being related to a foreign bank in the Caribbean. “Samaritan will need about an hour to lodge itself into the banking servers, creating the virtual transfers will take additional ten minutes”.

“Two mobile task forces are on standby in about five minutes, also a helicopter with a thermal imaging camera is ready for operation. As soon as we have an approximate location from the cellphone, team alpha is send out to comb the district” Marki explained.

Nick was still sitting on the floor in their bedroom, quietly listening to the voices outside of the room. He was doubting that the first tac-team would produce any results: The kidnapper would not have used the phone at the same location he was keeping hold of Evelin. But even when: A location by triangulating the signal from the cell-towers would produce a radius of several hundred meters and they had no clue for what they are searching. An apartment building? An old factory or warehouse? Some kind of basement? The thermal imaging camera was of no use, too, unless there is nothing but Evelin and the kidnapper in the whole area, maybe deep in the woods in a cottage. But there was no clue suggesting something like this.

And with the banking tracer… the kidnapper could be accessing the account from a totally different location again, maybe even sitting in a Starpaws drinking some coffee while checking the account balance regularly. Even if the tac-team would be able to catch him, they still had no idea where Evelin would be. And interrogating him could take hours, if he (or she) has a good lawyer probably with even no result.

Nick’s stomach was convulsing – he just couldn’t see how this whole operation could end in a positive way for his friend and sister-in-law. And paying the kidnapper? Nick already calculated several times their savings, possible credits and people he could ask for a loan – but a quarter million Zollars was way too much. Except… the new thought he got caused even more pain in his stomach: Asking Mister Big for help. But even with Judy being the godmother of his grandchild, how should they ever pay him back? As being ZPD officers the fox could imagine what the Mafia don would demand in return. They would be completely and utterly at his mercy, nothing he could consider seriously.

But then, he saw Evelin’s beautiful face again – nothing too hard to imagine, as he just had to raise his head to look at sleeping Judy. It was a rogue image when he thought about the younger sister, maybe she was just now being tortured or even worse. The awkwardness was paralyzing him and he could hardly breathe, the panic slowly choking on him.

“Sir, I’ve got a location via triangulation for the phone call. It was located in the Canal District, near the Kapok Street cornering the Coconut Avenue, in a radius of four city blocks” Bradley said to Marki, who immediately grabbed his radio again.

“Operational command for Tac-Team Alpha, 11-98 Canal District, code 11, over!”

“Tac-Team Alpha for Operational command, confirming code 11. ETA in twelve minutes. Over and out!”

Marki turned to Bradley again: “Send all tactical information including street and underground maps to our channel and order two untagged operational vehicles to the helicopter airfield in the Canal District.”

“Sending information now on our secure channel, access code is ’10-Brake-Alpha’. The car pool at the CD airfield reports two untagged vehicles are on standby for Team Alpha.”

“Okay, I will drive to the HQ and meet with Tac-Team Bravo, how much time is left until the banking tracer is ready?”

“Thirty-Six minutes left, the virtual transfers are already prepared” Bradley said after checking a few applications on his notebook. “But we have to wait for someone accessing the banking account to get their location data”.

“I know, but I’m counting on the impatience of our kidnapper and that he is checking the balance regularly” Marki was nearly out of the door when he paused for a moment and turned his head back to Bradley: “And keep an eye on Wilde, I don’t want him to put his oar in on the operation!”

When Marki finally left the apartment, slamming the door shut, Bradley noticed that Nick was standing in the doorframe that’s leading to their bedroom. “Don’t take it personal, Nick” he said with a soft smile. “Marki may seem to be rough, but he is one of our bests”.

“He’s behaving like a bull in a china shop” Nick muttered quietly. He poured some water into a glass and knocked it back. “I worked already several times with Marki, but since the bombings he’s treating me different. And now he even stunned a helpless victim only because he didn’t want to bother with him anymore? That was totally unneeded and excessive, I don’t know what to make of this, Brad”. The fox sat down beside the jaguar with a sigh. He and Bradley got to be friends half a year ago when Nick worked in his forensic department for an advanced training.

“Marki never was a convivial mammal. And maybe he was acting somewhat impulsively when he stunned that rabbit. But he is one of our best profilers and tacticians”. Bradley said while checking the status of the tracer.

“Just be honest with me, Brad… what are our odds to find Evelin on time?”

“I don’t know, Nick. I have seriously no idea. You know that Forget-me-not kidnapper better than me, I’m just the IT guy playing with the computer” Bradley sighed. “If he just makes a quick-check for the balance of the account, maybe he will let her go and we can even arrest him based on the tracer-data”.

“Would you do this?” Nick asked weary, already knowing the answer.

“No” his colleague answered with a sigh. “I would transfer all the money immediately on different off-shore accounts so nobody can find it, accessing the bank account via an open WiFi connection of a library or something similar”.

“Yeah, thought so” Nick let his head fall down onto the table, being a picture of misery.

“Chin up, when the water's up to your neck – like my wife always say to me” the jaguar put a paw on Nick’s shoulder, smiling encouraging. “Our best team is working hard to bring Misses Brooks back home”.

The computer beeped and a small popup was notifying about a new mail with an ‘urgent’ flag. Bradley typed in a few commands, then opened the message. “Mh, the results from our forensics lab about the evidences”.

“Something enlightening?” Nick asked in a hopeful way, watching his colleague carefully while he was reading the reports.

“There was a greasy residue on the mouflon’s strand of fur, some old industry oil. And we found some rust particles together with shingle and clay on your doormat within some big cloven hoofprint. But we have no timing classification for it”.

“I cleaned-up the whole apartment, including the doormat, on Friday morning before our guests arrived. We had no big animals or mammals with cloven hoofs as guests since then” Nick said with a more attentive look on his face.

Bradley made some notes, then continued: “The bloodstain is indeed from a female rabbit, hormone level indicating a pregnancy, the DNA is not registered in our database. I guess we can be sure now that it is the blood of Misses Brooks. The short hairs within the blood are light grey and also from a female rabbit. Then we have a 0.5 mg solution of Etorphine – apparently your olfaction was absolutely right that there was a chemical substance on the carpet. We can assume that the poor rabbit was hit by a sedative dart. That dosage made her pass out within seconds, she had really no chance” Brad sighed.

“Wait, that’s not the same narcotic substance we are using in our tranquillizer guns, right?”

“No, the ZPD and other official forces are only allowed to use Acepromazine as it’s less dangerous and easier to dosage”.

“Maybe we can identify all buyers off Etorphine within the last few weeks, that list shouldn’t be very long. Also we should check burglary reports from pharmacies and hospitals!” Nick saw a dim ray of hope on the horizon.

Bradley was already typing on his notebook, sending a message to his lab. “Great idea, I have assigned a comprehensive research and cross-check to our experts. See? We are making progress” Bradley tried to cheer Nick up.

“Anything else?” the fox asked eagerly.

“Just a handwriting analysis report for the poem. The cursive writing is identical to the specimen of the previous letters. Just… mh…” the jaguar paused and read a paragraph he only skimmed again.

“Just what, Brad?” Nick was getting edgy.

“There is a small divergence in the type face for the word ‘bunny’. It’s still the same handwriting, but the lines are more fringed”.

“And only for the word ‘bunny’?” Nick asked frowning and Bradley nodded. “No idea, doesn’t seem to be helpful at all. The best trace seems to be the Etorphine. Keep me informed about everything new, okay?”

“Sure thing, Nick” Bradley checked his banking tracer and sighed – still twelve minutes left until he could start the transfers. “How is Judy, by the way? She really didn’t look too well when we arrived. Hope she is okay?”

“The whole pregnancy is very exhausting for her, especially as her broken ribs are still healing. Then she didn’t get a lot of sleep this weekend and now the shock with Evelin’s kidnapping. It was all too much, but our Doctor said that everything will be okay again and gave her something to relax. She is sleeping right now, it’s the best in her current state anyway” Nick sighed. “I will have a look after Sven, call me if you get any news!”

Bradley was already typing on his notebook again to forward the forensic reports to the team and just nodded as an answer.

* * *

### 21:39 o’clock, Hopps-Wilde’s apartment (guestroom)

Nick was sitting on a wooden chair in the corner of the guestroom, typing on his phone that was occasional vibrating to notify about new messages. He was trying to get in touch with some of his former contacts and whistleblowers, but didn’t received any viable information in the last twenty minutes. Doctor Alisson had injected Sven an antagonist for the narcotic drug and went back to Judy after a short talk with Nick. Evelin’s husband didn’t tolerate the Acepromazine very well and was still groggy, dozing off frequently.

It knocked on the door and Bradley entered the room. “Team Alpha couldn’t find anything suspicious in the Canal District, but will still stick around. Also Samaritan finished its work and the account balance is now showing five incoming money transfers, each with 50.000 Zollars. But no activity, yet”.

Nick nodded slowly and asked with a short look to his phone: “Any news about the Etorphine?”

“Not yet, sorry” the jaguar shook his head, then nodded in Sven’s direction. “How is he?”

Nick stood up from his chair, putting his paws into his pants pockets, and walked up to the bed, looking down to his brother-in-law with a sad face. “Just like a rabbit that had a terrible day and was stunned. He’s only occasionally conscious and then always muttering something about Evelin”. He made a short pause, then mumbled: “They don’t deserve this. They are just hard working country mammals, settling down to family life and trying to make ends meet”.

“Nobody deserves this, Nick. And don’t give up, yet. We still have quite some traces to follow and will find your sister-in-law” Bradley said quietly. He wasn’t very talented in finding the right words, working with computers was more his bag. With nothing more to say he quietly left the room again, closing the door behind.

Nick walked slouchy to the window. It was already dark outside and a colorful sea of lights composed of lanterns, cars, advertising panels and the illuminations of all the buildings. In the distance the Rainforest District was visible as a dark jungle, the slow motions of all the trees made it appear like a silent ocean. The nightly sky was star-bright, in a few days they would have a new moon. Somewhere out there in this big city was Evelin held captive, probably full of fear, maybe even injured, her life at stake.

“Nick…” Sven was speaking quietly with a toneless voice. Nick closed his eyes and shivered, he was totally able to relate to the rabbit, remembering how weak and helpless he was feeling himself while Judy was sitting in that car with the bomb’s timer running down merciless only a few weeks ago. But at least he was able to talk and assist her in that situation. Sven was not even able to do anything to support his wife right now. His low voice beyond all hope when he uttered Nick’s name made the fox feel like someone was clawing at his heart with a deathly cold paw.

“Hey, Sven. Good to see you awake again” Nick said turning around with his best deadpan he could pretend. Actually he wasn’t glad to see him awake, the rabbit couldn’t do anything right now and while asleep he didn’t have to suffer from the darkness at least.

“Anything new?” the rabbit asked with this quiet and toneless voice that was giving Nick a chill.

“The kidnapper had called us about one-and-a-half hour ago. Some tactical teams are combing the area from where he called and we faked the money transfer. There is nothing we can do but wait right now” Nick tried to use a warm and comforting voice, holding the rabbits paw tightly in his own. “Maybe Detective Marki was behaving like an insensitive troll when he stunned you, but he is also one of our best tactical officers and will do all in his power to get her back”.

Sven just nodded weakly, holding Nick’s paw and turned his face to the window, watching the hardly visible sickle moon. “I cannot lose her, Nick. She means the world to me, I don’t know what I will do if I lose her”.

Nick’s phone vibrated silently and the fox starred on the display with a deadpan. He unclasped Sven’s paw, made a few steps away from Sven’s bed and finally accepted the call: “Wilde”.

* * *

### 22:11 o’clock, Hopps-Wilde’s apartment (bedroom)

Nick had asked Doctor Alisson to have a look after Sven. He changed his clothes after she left the bedroom as he was still wearing his Red Paws shirt from the game this afternoon. When the fox walked over to Judy’s side of the bed he kneeled down and took the paw of his sleeping wife. Her skin was soft and warm, and when he slowly leaned forward he burrowed his nose into Judy’s fur, taking a last deep breath of her scent. After a few seconds he reluctantly lifted his head again, stroked with his paw slowly over her cheek and whispered: “I will do all that is necessary to bring her back, I promise carrots…” – closing his eyes he gave her a soft kiss. He lingered over some thoughts, eventually pulled off his wedding ring and put it down on Judy’s nightstand beside her alarm clock. When Nick stood up again, he quietly said “I love you” before finally turning around and walking out of the door, not noticing that Judy had opened her eyes somewhat.

“Nick…?” she said still sleepy, but he was already gone and closed the door, leaving her behind alone in the dark room.

* * *

### 22:19 o’clock, Hopps-Wilde’s apartment

“You shouldn’t leave the house, Nick. Where are you going?” Bradley asked when Nick walked into the hallway and put on his coat.

“I’m just getting something to eat for us, we only had a light lunch today. This is probably going to be a long night. Pizza is okay for you?” Nick smiled lightly.

“Sure thing, good idea. I will call you immediately if I get some news in the meanwhile!”

“Thanks, I’ll be back in about twenty minutes, tops” the red fox waved goodbye and quickly left the apartment. When he entered the elevator he took his phone and removed the battery – his contact always was a shady and paranoid mammal and made it clear, that he would only speak with Nick in private. No phone that could be wiretapped, no police and no other tricks. Nick had only worked once with Ferris five years ago; this ferret was giving him the creeps – but also had the best connections on the black market in Zootopia and selling those to whoever could afford it. That also meant, that the former hustler had to make a short detour before he would meet Ferris in the Nocturnal District…

* * *

### 22:31 o’clock, Hopps-Wilde’s apartment (bedroom)

Judy was still feeling dizzy, but her body wasn’t aching anymore. She fumbled for her alarm clock on the nightstand; it was half past ten, not quite two hours of sleep. It took a while to remember all things that happened this evening in detail, her brain still working slowly like being wrapped up in cotton wool from the drugs. She remembered that she arrived together with Nick and Finnick at their apartment. Sven was waiting in front of it because Evelin wasn’t answering the door. There was quite a mess in their living room and they found a ransom note. Henceforth her memories were only vague, remembering only small fragments: Marki’s and Wolford’s voice, a discussion to call Doctor Alisson, Nick’s voice singing her a lullaby, someone talking about a problem with her blood, the soft touch of Nick’s paw stroking over her face. But everything seems so unreal: Their birthday party yesterday, the baseball game today and only at the split of a second later everything had changed when they realized that Evelin was supposedly being kidnapped. Just a few weeks ago she escaped death by a narrow margin when someone blew up their police rover – only to discover some days later that she was pregnant from Nick with two kits… it seemed as since she rushed into marriage five weeks ago her complete life was like riding a rollercoaster without safety bars.

Her mind drifted slowly away. Judy’s last ride on a rollercoaster was a few months ago on the carrots fair in Bunnyburrow. She had a great weekend with Nick and a few dozens of her siblings. There was still a photo hanging on their fridge door; it showed Evelin and her, screaming with cheers while sitting in the first wagon of the coaster, dashing down after the looping. Judy smiled at the thought of it, but the mental image suddenly changed into something dark and scary, the screams now with panic-stricken fear. Out of a sudden the wagon was hurtling towards a massive brick wall with Nick standing right in front of it. His eyes were blazing in red, baring his teeth and blood all over his body…

Judy woke up again, soaked with sweat and with a racing heart. It took her a few seconds to realize where she was and the details of the nightmare were already fading away. The door of the bedroom was teared open, the bright light from the hallway was blinding – and then someone was clawing at her! She started to flail in panic, screaming for help…

“Breathe deeply and try to calm down again. It’s only me, Doctor Kathrin Alisson. You had a nightmare, Judy…” the other rabbit tried to reassure her, gently holding her patients paws. She and Bradley ran into the bedroom after they heard a sudden scream seconds ago. The jaguar stopped in the doorframe with a worried look, but when he was sure that Judy only had a nightmare he backed out tactfully, giving his colleague and friend some privacy in her own bedroom.

Judy was breathing heavily, her eyes wide open, but eventually stopped flailing after she had recognized Doctor Alisson. The older rabbit was still talking soothingly, feeling her pulse on the neck.

“Are you okay again?” Kathrin Alisson asked, feeling Judy’s cheeks and forehead with the back of her paw.

Judy nodded slowly, muttering: “Just feeling somewhat giddy…”

“You were hyperventilating, take a slow and deep breath…” Doctor Alisson said slowly, then continued after a few seconds, “…and breathe out again… inhale… and exhale. Good” she smiled softly. “Your pulse is already near to normal again. Do you have any pain right now?”

The younger rabbit was pondering for a moment, “Just a light prick in my chest”.

Doctor Alisson nodded slowly and reached for a glass with water on the nightstand. “Here, you should drink something”.

Judy slowly sat up in her bed, took the glass and had a sip. Her nightmare was nothing more than a vague feeling by now and she looked around. She was still in her bedroom, but the shadows on the wall seemed to be somewhat minatory. When Judy glanced at her alarm clock it displayed 23:08 o’clock. With a last gulp she emptied the glass of water and handed it back to Doctor Alisson.

“Can you give me a roundup what happened? I vaguely remember that I passed out after we noticed that Evelin was gone and we found something like a ransom note; and that I insisted on calling you instead of a doctor on call. But everything else is blurry”.

Doctor Alisson put the glass back on the nightstand. “I examined you and we talked about a few things regarding your pregnancy. Nothing too important right now, we can go through everything without ruffle or excitement on your next regular visit in my office. I also gave you an injection with some vitamins, something to regulate your IgG level and also a light sedative for your pain and to get some sleep”. She paused, then seemed to be uncomfortable out of a sudden. “Regarding the events around your sister… I don’t think that I’m the right person to talk about that with you, Misses Hopps-Wilde. I’m just your doctor and only overheard a few scraps of conversation”.

“Of course, sorry. Maybe you can ask Nick to come? I’m sure he stayed on top of everything” Judy smiled weary; in secrecy she had expected his face to be the first thing she would see when opening her eyes, and now she was somewhat sad that he still wasn’t present. Much to her surprise Doctor Alisson was hesitating and not replying to her question. Actually, the other rabbit was now avoiding to look in her direction. Judy’s facial expression was getting more vigilant and her ears bopped up. When she noticed the nervous heartbeat of the rabbit sitting opposite, her muzzle started to wiggle nervously. “Doctor Alisson? You are keeping something from me, what is it?”

* * *

### 22:46 o’clock, Nocturnal District

Nick was walking through a small passage in the Nocturnal District, a shady place even in the daytime as it mainly consists of a long and extensive network of caves, caverns, tunnels and passages. It’s extending for kilometers underneath the main city and into the outlying regions around it like the Meadowland or the mountainous regions flanking Zootopia. Most of its residents were law-abiding and friendly citizens: mammals like stoats, bats, badgers, opossums, tapirs or raccoons were not only living but also working here. But its location and structures also made it an ideal place for less legally deals and activities.

Almost twenty years ago Nick and his mother had a small two-room flat down here for a while as they had hardly any income and the rent was comparatively cheap. But today he was in a much darker area of the district with only a few residences and small stores that all had closed by this time. The sound of a distant bar was reaching his ears, but ranges were difficult to estimate as there was a lot of echo. Even his excellent night vision was of no big use as the small tunnels and passages were often highly branched.

Ferris had a luxury flat by the local standards, but the entrance was hidden and unremarkable in one of the smaller side-passages. Nick had to keep his head down when he entered the low passage – a nearly invisible sign, a crescent within a rhomb, was worked into the wall near the floor to mark the right one for privy mammals. The humid and moldy air was raising his hackles. The fox wanted to make fast work of this visit, hoping that Ferris really had some information about someone who recently bought some Etorphine on the black market like he suggested on the phone. Nick was really reluctant at first to write a message to the ferret, but eventually had to admit that he was still the best chance for Evelin he knew of right now; when anybody could tell him who bought that forbidden drug, it was Ferris. After just a few meters the door of Ferris’ residence became visible behind some creepers. With a deep breath he knocked on the wooden door and after a while he heard at least three locks before the door opened slowly. A coyote was eyeing him suspiciously, a second coyote was visible a few meters further into the hallway. Both were dressed in brown and black clothes, each having a baton on their belt – and Nick was sure he recognized also some sort of gun under the jacket of the first coyote.

“I’m Nick, I have a meeting with Ferris” the fox said in a low tone, mustering the first guard carefully.

Without saying a word the coyote stepped aside to let him pass and closed the door again with a menacing click of the locks. The second guard was going ahead, leading the fox into a small and sparsely furnished office. While Nick was sitting down on one of the armchairs, both coyotes were taking up position in front of the door. Even in Mister Big’s office the atmosphere wasn’t as cold as here – and his was in Tundratown after all!

“Long time no see, Nicholas” a soft but all the more threatening voice was coming from behind and Nick turned his head. The ferret had ash-gray but groomed fur, wearing an all-black suit with an olive-green tie.

“Businesses, you know” Nick said with nearly no emotion but slyly smiling somewhat.

Ferris walked past him, sitting down on another chair. “Heard you abandoned your career as an iceman? Your long-eared friend was seen with some other rascals lately”.

“It was time for a change. I’m working on a new long-time hustle now, but none of your beeswax. You said on the phone that you would have the information I asked for?”

“I also remind that I mentioned a price it would cost” the ferret smiled shifty, folding his paws together.

Nick wanted to reach into his jacket to pull out an envelope, but he couldn’t even grab it before one of the coyotes was standing beside him out of nowhere, grabbing his arm vicelike.

Ferris hold up one paw: “Move slowly… Pascal can be quite nervous with foreigners” he smiled softly. The coyote was slowly letting go of Nick’s arm again, still watching him attentively.

Nick rolled seemingly bugged with his eyes and carefully pulled his jacket aside. “See? No weapons”. With his other paw he pulled the brown envelope out of the inside pocket. “Eight thousand Zollars as agreed” he said while giving the envelope to the coyote, who checked the content and then passed it to his boss.

Ferris took the money out of the envelope and counted it with quick fingers. When he made sure that the amount was correct, he gave it back to Pascal who walked up to a small cabinet and locked the wad of notes away. “Nothing personal, Nicholas. But I know how bad you are at math”.

“I kept my side of the bargain” Nick snarled quietly. “Now for the requested information”.

“Why in such a hurry…” the ferret was now talking markedly slow. “I’m curious, since when are you interested in drug dealers?”

“The dealer doesn’t interest me in the slightest. I want to know the name of the buyer”.

“Ahh… right. Even more disconcerting. What was it – Etorphine? That’s some dangerous stuff, Nicholas. And even more are those who are buying it backhandedly”.

“You are asking too many questions, Ferris. I’m the one who asked for information and already payed for it”.

“Sorry, just a bad habit. At least I’m dealing with information” Ferris answered. “But you are right, a deal is a deal”. He pulled a small note out of his jacket pocket and leaned forward, handing it Nick.

The fox took and unfolded the slip of paper – ‘Bud Ramstad’ was written on it in small letters. “It was a pleasure as always to bargain with you” he muttered and got up from his seat, putting the note into his pants pocket.

When Nick had nearly reached the door, Ferris raised his voice again: “Just a last question, Nicholas”. The fox turned around with an annoyed look of inquiry. The ferret was still sitting in his chair with crossed legs and his paws folded together in his lap again. “How long exactly are you working as a cop now?”

That question was totally unexpected and touched Nick to the quick, raising his hackles. He couldn’t even think of a reaction yet when out of a sudden a sharp pain flashed through his head, knocking him out immediately. Pascal was standing above the inanimate body of the fox with his baton while Ferris slowly walked up to them.

“How unfortunate for you that somebody else also offered a high reward for anyone asking about Ramstad or Etorphine, Nicholas. As I said, it’s really some dangerous stuff” the ferret said with a sly grin to the passed out fox, then made a gesture to his guards. “Call the client and arrange the handover with that timber wolf. I want to get over and done with this transaction as quickly as possible and get shed of that pig again”.

* * *

### 23:18 o’clock, Hopps-Wilde’s apartment (work room)

“What do you mean, he is also vanished?!” Judy was yelling at Snarlof, only wearing the too long baseball shirt of the Red Paws. When Doctor Alisson had confessed to her that Nick left the apartment nearly an hour ago to get something to eat, but didn’t return and also didn’t answer his phone, Judy bounced out of the bed against the doctor’s orders and ran into the living room. Bradley was working focused on his notebook while Grizzoli and Snarlof, two polar bears and also officers of the ZPD, were talking with each other.

“What I just said, Hopps” Snarlof answered with a tight voice. “He told Bradley that he wanted to get some pizza for dinner. That’s more than an hour ago now and when Bradley couldn’t reach him on his phone after waiting for nearly forty minutes, he immediately reported a 10-57 and 11-99. The whole night shift is searching the area for him right now, but Wilde seems to have disappeared off the face of the earth”.

“In the true sense of the word!” Bradley interrupted them with a sudden exclamation. “’Trinity’ just identified him via face recognition when he entered the Nocturnal District via the South-East-Gateway near Acacia Street forty-two minutes ago. I’m trying to find some newer footage now!” Trinity was a surveillance software that sorts through all available digital information, for example the footage of the security cameras all over Zootopia, police reports and usage of public transport. It supports the ZPD and other authorities with a heuristic search, using face and license plate recognition and machine learning algorithms to process the big data of all sources. It was developed by the software company ECT after the Nighthowler case proved, that the huge amount of security cameras cannot be sufficiently monitored manually.

“Nocturnal District? Are you sure?” Judy asked skeptically and ran over to Bradley to have a look on his monitor. Grizzoli was forwarding the new information via radio, asking the dispatcher to inform Precinct 29, too, as the Nocturnal District was in their area of authority. Snarlof was talking on a different channel in the meanwhile with Marki, also informing him about the new information. The timber wolf was still with Tac-Team Bravo on standby, waiting for results of the bank account tracer.

“The system identified him with a probability of 92%, but have a look for yourself” the jaguar typed in a few commands and the archived footage of a security camera at the said gateway became visible on the screen. Judy’s chest was aching again and she also got a headache, making it difficult to concentrate on the video. But she recognized Nick’s gait and posture at once.

“That’s him, no doubts” she sighed puzzled. “What for carrots sake is he doing down there?!”

“No idea… wait a second, I try to backtrack him from there” Bradley typed in a few more commands and based on the found hit the system started to analyze nearby cameras. With a confirmed match the heuristic was able to improve the recognition, now finding more results with a high probability for which the face recognition alone wasn’t sufficient. “Okay, here are a few more hits: He walked through Downtown, using apparently quite some backstreets with only few security cameras”.

“It nearly seems to me that he was anxious to avoid them, see how he looks over his shoulders?” Grizzoli said with irritation, standing behind Bradley and Judy by now.

“I have no account for his behavior, too” Judy was supporting herself against the tabletop with hypoventilation and closed her eyes.

Bradley put his arm around her back to prevent her from collapsing again, “Are you okay, Judy? Maybe you should lay down again”.

“I can’t breathe” she whispered in panic, feeling dizzy again.

“I’m calling the Doctor…” Grizzoli said worried and headed to the guestroom, but Doctor Alisson was already entering the living room, supporting Sven. “Ah, you come in at the right moment, Hopps is feeling off-color again and cannot breathe!”

Doctor Alisson searched the room for Judy with an alarmed look, then turned around to Sven. But even before she could say something he was already making a quick gesture: “I’m okay, go and have a look after Judy!”

* * *

### 00:03 o’clock, unknown hideout

He was surrounded by darkness, unable to see even a single contour and there was only a quiet but constant hum in the distance. Feeling weightless and at the same time paralyzed, floating just like some insensate object in zero gravity, the endless void sucking him under. Piercing cold. A sensation of giddiness. After a few seconds, minutes or days – he had completely lost his sense of time – the quiet hum got louder and a dull pain was slowly pervading his whole body. Within the darkness a small bright light emerged, getting bigger and brighter with every second; and with it the pain intensified. He was slowly drawn towards that light, the dizziness getting even worse, and suddenly he was falling and rotating uncontrollably…

When Nick slowly opened his smarting eyes, his vision was only blurred. He also had a sharp headache and a metallic flavor in his mouth, the latter reminding him on the side effects of drugs like chloroform. His feet were strapped to the legs of a wooden chair he was sitting on, his paws were handcuffed behind his back. While trying to take a deep breath he suddenly noticed that he could barely open his snout, being also muzzled. He couldn’t neither move nor speak and his first reaction – a light panic – was quickly replaced by anger and the fox started to struggle and teared at his bonds, but to no avail.

“Ah, I see that our main guest is finally awake” a cold an unpleasant voice came out of a dark corner of the room. “Don’t waste your energy, you are still going to need it”. A ram in a dark-grey and dirty overall made two steps forward until he was visible in the dim light. “I already feared you wouldn’t drop in and I had to party with the bunny all alone” the ram smiled maliciously while walking over to the other side of the room.

Nick was champing with rage and gazed after the ram who walked to another dark corner of the room. His eyes were still smarting and he could only vaguely recognize some silhouettes. When the ram switched on another light directly over a wooden table, the fox screwed up his eyes in pain from the sudden light. But some muffled screams constrained him to reopen them: The ram was standing beside a large wooden table with Evelin laying on top. Her mouth was gagged, arms and feet strapped to the table with some thick rope. She was still wearing her beautiful dress but the mortal fear was writ large in her face and her eyes tear-dimmed. Nick started to struggle and tear at his own bonds even more furiously, but the ram just laughed quietly and slowly walked up in his direction.

Nick was breathing heavily through his nose, his arms and shoulders were already hurting from all the struggling, but it was to no avail. For a moment he was glad that Evelin was in fact still alive and at least superficially unharmed. But the cold and smugly grin on that rams face was ominous. This behavior was complete uncharacteristic in accord with the profile of the Forget-me-not kidnapper, he never had two victims at once and only hijacked small and female prey – Nick being neither of it. Was he closing in on identifying him and the ram felt constrained to kidnap him, too, to prevent this? But it would have been much easier to just kill him or even Evelin and clear out. Also the whole appearance of the ram wasn’t that of someone who was in panic – didn’t he said, that he waited for Nick to arrive? The only consequence of this was, that Ferris phone call and offer to help was a trap to get hold of him. And following from the foregoing Nick arrived at the conclusion that this wasn’t the Forget-me-not kidnapper and that he just mimicked his behavior to… wherefore?!

“Keep calm, fox. You will have your chance to rescue that rabbit, I promise. Well…” the ram had walked over to another small table and smiled frostily. “…as a matter of fact, only one of you will be released. And as the smart and predominant predator you are, unlike us poor prey, you are going to decide how all of this will end”. Nick tried to yell something angrily, but his muzzle was preventing him to speak and the ram laughed. “Just listen carefully and I will explain your options. See all those neat little tools I brought just for you?” the ram waved with his hooves over the table.

It was only now that Nick took a closer look at that table. A clutter of different things were laying there: knifes, needles, a copper pipe, pliers, some glass vials with unknown liquids, wire cable, a car battery, a cattle prod and even more things he couldn’t identify.

“Your option number one is, we both are going to have a great time. Indeed, you will die in agony eventually in a few days, but I promise that I will spare the bunny. That is, if she survives this long without food and water”. Nick could hear Evelin starting to sob hysterically, but his own eyes were only fixating angrily the ram. “Or you can also plug into option number two anytime: You just have to kill the bunny and are released immediately. You’re a predator, so it’s in your nature anyway, but I also have a nice injection of this Nighthowler serum prepared just to make sure you don’t have second thoughts”.

Nick could just stare at the maliciously grinning ram, even without the muzzle he wouldn’t know what to say. He already had met psychopaths like Adrian Bale and read about other types of mentally disturbed personalities. But he never understood the desire of some mammals to hurt others – not with the intent to get some information or as a punishment, but just for fun and their own sadistic amusement only. But even if he was able to bear the torture, the longer he would stay alive the greater was the risk for Evelin for dehydration; providing their kidnapper would keep his word, something far from likely. The thought was turning his stomach and Nick couldn’t think straight right now, panic flooding his body again.

“Well, as long as you are evaluating your options, I will kill some time meanwhile…” the ram started to hum quietly, looking over the tools on the table. He finally decided for some heavy knuckle-dusters, put it on his hoof and strolled over to the restrained fox – battering him in the gut without showing any hesitancy, making him heaving a loud and tormented groan.

* * *

### 23:58 o’clock, Hopps-Wilde’s apartment (living room)

Grizzoli had brought Judy to the couch after her qualm and Doctor Alisson examined her blood pressure, temperature and other vital signs again, giving her some quick-acting drops against the dizziness and also the pain. Sven was still somewhat weak-kneed and he and Judy were comforting each-others now, holding their paws and nestling their heads together.

“You should probably go back to bed, Misses Hopps-Wilde” Doctor Alisson said with a worried look. “You’re still weak and I strongly recommend to have a few more hours of sleep”.

“Are my kits endangered?” Judy lifted her head and asked quietly.

The doctor slowly shook her head and sighed. “They are not in imminent danger, but I’m also worried about your wellbeing”.

“Maybe you should listen to her, Ju” Sven cradled his sister-in-law. “Your colleagues promised to inform us on news, you cannot do anything right now. I will wake you up as soon as…”

He couldn’t finish his sentence because Judy’s ZPD colleagues were agitatedly putting their heads together out of a sudden. Judy wanted to leap up from the couch again, but Doctor Alisson had foreseen that reaction and hold her back.

“Don’t rush things again, Miss Hopps-Wilde! It’s no use to pred or prey if you are collapsing again, you really have to take things easy now or I have to sedate you – for your own good!”

“You wouldn’t dare!” Judy answered angrily, but her desperate facial expression and her trembling paws were indicating that she wasn’t really able to react against anybody right now.

“Judy…” Sven put his paw on her arm, speaking with a quiet and sad voice. “Please, try to keep rational. The deep anxiety about Evelin and now Nick as well… I cannot handle all of this and be scared for you, too”. There was something pleading in his voice, just as he was mustering his last energy to not collapse and burst out crying.

Judy was slumping down and put her paw on Sven’s. She had to admit, that she was at the end of her rope, just like Sven. Just sitting here and thinking about what maybe happened to Evelin or Nick gave her a feeling of being totally helpless; but at least she could assist her brother-in-law in this situation. She felt her little kits kicking softly, apparently not even they were having a nap. With a soft smile Judy took Sven’s paw and put it on her belly for him to feel it, too. The rabbit was hesitant at first, but eventually smiled somewhat when he felt the little kicks. Without saying a word he leant his head against Judy’s and sighed, crawling over her belly absently.

* * *

### 00:19 o’clock, Hopps-Wilde’s apartment (work room)

Grizzoli and Snarlof were standing behind Bradley, watching how the IT guru was flipping through different applications and typing new commands faster than they could read. About fifteen minutes ago the tracer reported an access to the banking account and since then the jaguar was following its digital routing through the World Wide Web.

“Whoever is sitting on the other end of this, he is really good” Bradley muttered sour.

“Keep at it!” Snarlof exclaimed. “Our search parties still couldn’t find any new trace in the Nocturnal District of Wilde and we have no other clue than this banking account to the kidnap victim!”

“I know how to do my job, Snarlof!” Bradley said with a snarl. He knew that his colleague didn’t mean to urge him, but he was just stressed out. He had finished his shift and wanted to leave the office four hours ago when the emergency alarm for another ZPD officer came in. Recognizing his friends address immediately, he volunteered to take care for the IT forensics on-site – and by now he was working for more than thirteen hours at a stretch. But even worse than his depletion was the lack of helpful evidence in this case. And when finally someone accessed the surveilled account, his tracer seems to run in an endless loop, returning no result! Either there was some very uncommon bug in the software – something he could foreclose with almost dead certainty – or some very talented hacker was actively misleading the algorithms of Samaritan, which was nearly impossible without knowing the source code; and that was a classified information. Although being the head of the IT forensics department, even he had only limited access to it. So, theoretically it should be impossible to bypass Samaritan; but practically a simple trace-route operation, that shouldn’t run for more than a few seconds, was running for seventeen minutes now and still lasting!

„10-36 for Officer Grizzoli, 10-23 for Charlie One, over” Grizzoli’s radio was crackling out of a sudden.

“Grizzoli for Dispatch, 10-4, over and out!” he answered the radio and looked puzzled to his partner. As he was coordinating the search for Nick most of the evening, some confidential information that couldn’t be transmitted via radio was maybe worrying in this context. But that even Chief Bogo was on his way to them personally was quite alarming.

Snarlof shrugged with his shoulders, but before he could say something his own radio – adjusted for a different channel reserved to communicate with the tactical teams and Marki directly – crackled: “11-15 for David One, over!” – “Team Alpha on stand-by, over” – “Team Bravo on stand-by, over”.

Snarlof looked questioning to Bradley who just shook his head, then replied into his handset: “ID still UTR, code 500. Waiting on arrival of Charlie One on-site with a 10-36, over”.

There was a short pause on the radio, then Marki’s voice crackled again: “10-09 for ID, over”

“ID UTR, code 500” Snarlof repeated his message as requested, “Also awaiting arrival of Charlie One on-site with a 10-36, over”.

“10-04, David One over and out” Marki answered, his tension was noticeable even on the radio. He never was the most social colleague, but since the bombings the timber wolf was continuously bad-tempered. Now he was the team lead for the kidnapping, but instead of making progress an officer went missing, too, the IT wasn’t producing any results and now even Chief Bogo was joining in.

“Do you think we should tell Hopps that the Chief is on his way?” Snarlof asked with a frown, but Grizzoli shook his head.

“She will ask why, we would tell her that he has confidential information, and as we have no idea if Bogo is willing to tell her more, she will eventually tick him off and one of us will have to pay for spilling the news to her without permission”.

“Got him!” Bradley suddenly exclaimed and in the same moment the doorbell rang.

* * *

### 01:12 o’clock, unknown hideout

Evelin was squinting her eyes shut, she couldn’t bear to see Nick being beaten over and over again; first with some knuckle dusters, then with a long metal pipe. But she couldn’t close her ears, though, and the muffled screams and hitting sounds were causing her heartache like never before.

After what seemed like an eternity she could only hear Nick’s heavy breathing and no more beating. When she forced herself to open the eyes again, the view of her brother-in-law and close friend being covered in his own blood was turning her stomach. Bent-forward the fox was breathing heavily and Evelin could hear him wheezing every now and then – the same sound Judy made on her first day in the hospital a few weeks ago, meaning some of his ribs were broken and pierced his lungs; she cursed her excellent sense of hearing right now. Nick slowly turned his head in her direction, the former emerald colored eyes seemed to be dull and one eye socket was already swollen. But the fox still managed somehow to smile encouraging to her. The rabbit started to weep again, knowing that Nick was enduring all of this to save her; just one word would stop the torture for him if he would agree to sacrifice her. But even if Evelin wouldn’t have known that he would never do this, his small but encouraging smile was trying to assure her that he was okay, never considering that option.

In the meantime, the ram quietly started to whistle again some odd child song. He slowly walked back to Nick and arranged himself behind the chair, some tool in his hand the rabbit couldn’t see clearly.

“Ready for another round? You should smile a bit, we are recording some souvenir picture, too!” the ram giggled while grabbing Nick’s snout from behind and pushed it upwards to face a small webcam on a computer monitor in the back of the room. Slowly leaning forward he whispered into Nick’s ear with a sly smile: “You can stop this with just a single word… what do you think?”

Nick said quietly with a boldfaced smile: “I’m waiting for the ‘punch’-line…”

The ram just smiled even wider. “You’ll soon be laughing on the other side of your face, pred-scum. Let’s start working on your manners…” he replied, concurrently taking one of Nick’s fingers between the collet jaws of a pair of pliers.

Nick’s howl with pain was not as horrible as the cracking sound Evelin could clearly hear, making her scream hysterically into her gag, struggling desperately with her ropes.

* * *

### 00:46 o’clock, Hopps-Wilde’s apartment (work room)

While Grizzoli had opened the door for Chief Bogo, Snarlof was talking on the radio with Marki giving him the address of an abandoned warehouse in the meadowlands as the location the tracer had finally returned. After he finished he turned around to Bradley again:

“Both tactical teams are on their way, Marki is accompanying Team Bravo and they will arrive in about seven minutes at that address. Any additional information you can provide us with can be helpful, Brad”.

“I’m already working on it as fast as I can. However, there is something very strange…”

“More technical problems?” Snarlof asked dejected.

“No, quite the opposite. The Samaritan program was manipulated and fooled by some of the most advanced hacking techniques I ever saw. But the finally identified IP address isn’t secured at all: I’m nearly done acquiring full access to the corresponding computer, that’s way too easy. I have a bad feeling with this, you should inform the teams about a possible ambush or trap…” Bradley seemed seriously worried.

“Did you find them?” Judy asked with a weak but excited voice, standing in the doorframe to the work room where her colleagues had arranged themselves more than four hours ago. Sven stood beside her, holding her paw and looking scared to the jaguar and the polar bear behind Nick and Judy’s desk. Doctor Alisson got another emergency call from a patient with premature labor and had left them ten minutes ago, not without screwing the promise out of Judy to take it slow. She also promised to return afterwards and asked to not hesitate calling her in an emergency.

“We have a result from the tracer that observed the banking account” Bradley explained without interrupting his work, while Snarlof was talking with Marki and explained the potential risk of an ambush. “Our tactical teams are on their way right now, but as you can hear from Snarlof, I’m somewhat worried and assume that this location might be a trap for our teams”.

Judy sighed, “Did the kidnapper already noticed that you were just faking the money transfer?”

“When the tracer started its work, only the balance was checked. That shouldn’t have revealed our trick”.

The pregnant bunny nodded slowly, then asked another question: “We heard the doorbell a few minutes ago and someone is talking in the guestroom. I could only identify Grizzoli’s voice on the fly, do you know who is with him?”

“Presumably the Chief” Snarlof answered after he finished his report to Marki, then turned to Bradley. “The first helicopter will arrive in three minutes, Team Bravo is about two minutes behind them. Any updates, yet?”

“I have full access…” the jaguar finished typing a last command and continued after it completed successfully, “...now! Analyzing the hardware… no webcam or microphone available, scanning the hard disk for personal files”.

The guestroom door was opened and a few moments later Chief Bogo stood behind the two rabbits in the doorway to the work room with Grizzoli. Snarlof saluted, but Bogo just nodded quickly and turned to Judy.

“Hopps… sorry that we have to meet again so quickly under these circumstances”, he snarled as always and his rabbit-cop nodded acknowledging. “Mister Hopps-Brooks…” Bogo looked over to Sven and handed him his hoof. “I didn’t know that it’s your wife that is kidnapped, I’m really sorry”.

“Thanks, Chief” Sven said wearily.

“Hopps, can we talk for a moment in private?” Bogo turned back again to Judy who nodded with a frightened look, holding Sven’s paw even tighter. She leaded the way into the living room, starting to feel dizzy again.

While being at the police academy they trained how to tell someone that his partner, child or another member of the family had died in an accident or as a result of a crime; but when the casualty was another ZPD officer, it was the Chief’s duty to inform the bereaved. As their tactical teams were still following the traces to Evelin and they hadn’t heard any news from Nick since he disappeared in the Nocturnal District more than two hours ago, the bunny was assuming the worst when Bogo suddenly arrived. Sven noticed that his sisters-in-law shaking was intensifying, put his other arm supporting around her back and helped her finally to sit down on the coach again. He wanted to retreat but Judy quickly grabbed his paw again.

“Please stay…” she begged with tearful eyes.

Sven sighed, holding her paw with a firm grip and looked questioning to Bogo.

“I would prefer to talk with Miss Hopps one-to-one” he said. The male rabbit nodded slowly but when he tried to break loose from Judy, she started to whimper. Chief Bogo muttered something and rolled his eyes, being on the edge. “Okay! He can stay, Hopps, but please calm down again!” He slowly had a seat in one of the two armchairs opposite the couch. “What I’m about to say is supposed to be confidential” Bogo said in a lower voice while Evelin’s husband was sitting down beside Judy and cradling her soothingly.

It took her a few seconds, but when she composed herself again she asked bewildered: “Wait… confidential? Are you implying…” Judy sat up, wiping with her paw over her eyes and nose, “You… you are not here to offer your condolences?”

“Why should I offer …” Bogo looked puzzled at his rabbit officer, then it finally sunk in. “Wait, you thought that’s why I’m here?” Judy nodded slowly and the buffalo seemed startled, continuing in an unusual soft voice. “I’m so sorry, Judy. I really didn’t mean to increase your worries even more. No, I’m not here to offer my condolences. Admittedly we haven’t found Wi… (coughing slightly) Nick, yet, but we are still searching by all available means”.

The news took a load off Judy’s mind and she took a deep breath, whispering ‘Thank heaven!’ while Sven hugged her softly. “Okay, what else do you want to talk about then?” she asked, now being curious and eager to help.

“Grizzoli is leading the search for Nick and within this context he requested the telephone record of his mobile. It’s just a routine method, but I was called at home by Detective Blackide from our internal affairs department. It seems that your husband tried to get in contact with some registered criminals within the last hour of his disappearing, primarily text messages asking for information regarding an illegal drug named Etorphine and the name of mammals who recently tried to buy it”.

“What is Etorphine?” Sven asked puzzled.

“It’s an opioid with an efficiency a multiple of thousand times higher than morphine. In the past it was used in tranquilizer guns, but it turned out to be too dangerous when not measured out correctly for the individual size and weight of the mammal, right?” Judy tried to remember the details she had read in a history book about past police practices.

Bogo nodded, “Yes – and small traces of it were found in your apartment. Delgato and Wolford are assuming that Misses Hopps-Brooks was sedated with it by her kidnapper”. Judy looked saddened to Sven who had closed his eyes, breathing slowly, but his paws were shaking. “Nevertheless…” Bogo continued, “It wasn’t Nick’s phone that was monitored, but he was in contact with someone who is related with some other investigations Blackide is leading. When Grizzoli requested Nick’s telephone records, the numbers were automatically collated by our systems with current investigations. As that specific contact was flagged as being monitored by internal affairs, the whole document was marked classified as a result, reporting it to Blackide”.

“And he finally called you…” Judy concluded and Chief Bogo nodded. “But when the internal affairs department is monitoring this contact, doesn’t that mean that someone of the ZPD is in close or regular communication with him? What is the name of the contact Nick talked with? And did you get more information from Detective Blackide so we can interrogate that suspect at the ZPD?”

“Whoa, slow down, Hopps” Bogo grunted. “I’m actually here to ask you if you know any of the mammals Wilde had contacted today” he took a list with numbers out of his pocket. “But I know neither which of those contacts are flagged nor I’m allowed to give you any more information about those internal investigations. Also it’s an ongoing undercover investigation, so neither you nor I can talk to the monitored suspect at the ZPD”. He handed her the computer printout of Nick’s last calls and messages.

Judy read through the whole list, noticing a few contacts they had used as tipsters in the past, mostly gougers and small-time crooks. Nick’s shady past proved to be useful from time to time when they needed some insider or underground information. But there were also some she didn’t recognize, including a few numbers that called her husband shortly before his mobile went offline.

“And you never heard of those and don’t know how Wilde is connected with them?”

Judy slowly shook her head, but got an idea. “No, sir. But I know someone who can help us with this list for a certainty. I can contact him immediately if you agree!”

Bogo was skeptical about the idea to share those information with another stranger, “Are you sure that your informant is a trustworthy source and has useful information?” When Judy nodded confidently, he sighed. “Okay, Hopps. You can call him, but I want to meet him in person. Don’t tell him any further details on the phone!”

“I…” Judy hesitated, then finally nodded. “Okay, but I don’t know if he will listen to me on the phone. It would be easier to persuade him face-to-face. He is currently close by, I can be back in maybe ten min…”

“No way!” Bogo burst out, interrupting her. “That way we already got lost of Wilde! And for all we know, you were the essence target of the kidnapping. You are going nowhere right now, and even more not alone! Just write down the address and I’m going to meet him!”

“Sir…” Judy sighed. “He wouldn’t talk with you, let alone trust you when I’m not present. And even then it will be difficult enough for me to persuade him to help us. But I guarantee you that it’s worth the risk, he knows each and every contact on this list, I’m sure!”

“Hopps…” Bogo clenched his fists and tried to stay as calm as possible. The rabbit’s disobedience was routinely setting his teeth on edge but he tried hard to keep his temper right now, not wanting to escalate the nerve-racking situation even more.

Judy was already getting up from the couch, looking at him unflinching. “I will try to reach him on the phone, but when that comes to nothing I’m going! You can accompany me, Chief, but I have to urge you to keep a low profile. I don’t want to risk the only opportunity we currently have to find Nick!” she turned around without waiting for an answer and quickly walked to her bedroom.

“How dare her!” Bogo snarled scarcely audible, but needless to say that Sven could hear him.

“Please indulge her, Chief…” the rabbit said quietly, slowly getting up from the couch, too. “Judy did mean no harm, she is merely a bundle of nerves tonight, feeling just use- and helpless. So am I. But I will talk to her…” he turned around and slowly followed his sister-in-law to the bedroom.

Chief Bogo was snorting with rage, gazing after the rabbits without saying another word.

“Chief Bogo!” Snarlof hurried into the room, a strange but urgent undertone in his voice.

“Not just yet!” Bogo snapped at his officer without turning around, still unsure what he should do regarding Judy’s informant.

“This is really important, chief, you have to come with me!” the polar bear was urging him.

The Cape buffalo sighed annoyed, was everyone disobeying his direct orders today? Bogo turned his head around to call his officer to order, but paused when he noticed the disturbed facial expression of his subordinate. “What’s the matter, Snarlof?”

“We’ve got something new regarding Wilde and the kidnapped rabbit. But you should see for yourself…” Snarlof said in an unsettled voice, then turned around and hurried back to the work room.

* * *

### 01:12 o’clock, Hopps-Wilde’s apartment (bedroom)

Judy was sitting on the edge of her bed and trying to reach Finnick on his phone when Sven knocked quietly on the door. “Come in” she called and hang up with a frustrated sigh.

“Are you trying to reach this little fox who accompanied you earlier today?” Sven asked tired and closed the door quietly.

Judy played with Nick’s wedding ring he had left behind on her nightstand between her fingers and sighed. “Yes, but he isn’t answering the phone. How did you know about who I’m trying to call?”

Sven smiled weary and sat beside his sister-in-law. “You introduced him as a long-term friend of Nick, mentioned that he doesn’t like cops, he said in turn that he wants to sleep it off in his van that I assume is parked in front of the house, and you just said to your chief that your trustworthy informant is nearby”. Sven slowly put his paw on Judy’s leg, nudging her with his elbow. “Maybe I’m just a dumb bunny and not a police officer, but I can put one and one together”.

Judy had to smile, “Sly f…” she paused and lost her smile again at once. “Sorry… I mean…” she started stammering, but Sven just gave her a soft hug.

“It’s okay, you also remind me of Eve all the time”, the rabbit whispered.

She returned his hug and sniveled, “They will find them both and get them back to us, for sure”.

“I know, Judy” he replied blandly, holding her tight. “I know…”

* * *

### 01:14 o’clock, Hopps-Wilde’s apartment (work room)

“What …” Bogo started, but paused again. He wild stared on Bradley’s computer screen, watching a video that was playing on it. “Is this live?” he eventually gasped.

Bradley nodded slowly. “The tactical teams discovered the traced location, an abandoned warehouse in the Meadowlands, but only found an improvised desk with a computer and a satellite dish to connect it to the internet. During my remote analysis of the hard disk, I found a video file that was still increasing in size. I intercepted the transferred data on the network connection and discovered this live stream”.

“You mean, someone is not only streaming but recording this? Can you wind the video back to the start?”

Bradley nodded and started to type in a few commands, switching from the live stream to the still growing video-file. He had to turn the volume up again so Bogo could listen to the introducing talk of an unknown ram, walking around in the room. In the top right corner a table was only just visible, a pregnant rabbit being confined to it. In the middle of the screen they could identify Nick sitting also confined and with a muzzle on a chair. The ram had just explained the two alternatives for the fox, now hauling off for his first punch with the knuckle dusters. Grizzoli and Snarlof were looking the other way and Bradley winced, quickly turning down the volume again.

Bogo watched the scene for a few moments without showing any emotions, then said in a whisper: “Fast forward…”

After a few minutes they reached the end of the recording and the video continued in real time to play the live stream. The ram had just broke the third of Nick’s fingers when the screams fade away and the fox eventually passed out.

“I want you to analyze every frame of this video for hints where this is happening, trace every single bit of data manually to its source if necessary! Call in every colleagues of the IT department you need to assist you” Bogo commanded astonishing calm to the jaguar, then turned to Snarlof and Grizzoli. “Marki should comb the whole area with his teams, maybe they are not too far away. Also demand support from the other precincts to support the search: Everyone should contact their informants, call in favors if possible”. His voice got something sinister when he pointed with a hoof to the screen: “This dirty bastard is not only threatening the life of a colleague and his family, he is mocking us! This is our top priority and our only case until we could arrest him!”

In the meantime they had to watch on Bradley’s monitor how the ram was playing around with a cattle prod, giving off electric sparks that were causing a blue coloring to the picture. “Another thing, for pity’s sake!” the chief slowly averted his eyes from the screen. “No word to Hopps or the other victims spouse about this video, even better you turn off the volume completely. Organize some undercover officers in front of the house and uniformed colleagues in the hallway twenty-four-seven. Also inform the responsible precinct in the Tri-Burrow-Area about the situation, they should keep their eyes open. Someone really is on to the Hopps’ family – I want to know why, and I want no additional incidents!”

* * *

### 01:33 o’clock, Hopps-Wilde’s apartment (hallway)

Chief Bogo left the work room in a really bad mood, but now he definitely wanted to talk to this informant Judy had mentioned. There were four incoming calls half an hour before Nick’s phone was turned off, Nick could have been kidnapped when he wanted to meet any of them. He had to find out to whom those phone numbers belong and would leave no remedy untried to get this information after what he saw a few minutes ago on Bradley’s notebook. Judy didn’t return to the living room, yet, so he walked up to the bedroom door and knocked. Nothing. He knocked again and after waiting a few seconds, he opened the door with a queasy feeling: Some bedside lamp was switched on, but the room was empty. He ran back to the living room, cursing this pigheaded bunny, but at the same time being angry with himself – he should have known her better that she wouldn’t just sit still.

Bogo grabbed his radio and headed for the front door when Sven suddenly encountered him in the hallway. “Don’t get mad at her, chief… she is still on this floor, right over there at the elevator”. The rabbit blocked the passage through the door, pointing along the hallway to Judy, who was quietly talking with someone who preferred to stay in the elevator. “Her contact was only willing to come here if they could talk in privacy and I was only willing to support her when she would stay within sight”.

“Just get out of my way, Mister Hopps-Brooks. I want to talk with this informant for myself!”

Under normal circumstances, Sven would never had the courage to breast a much larger mammal, let alone an authority like the chief of the ZPD. But it was Nick’s and Evelin’s life that were at stake right now and all of these ZPD officers were still poking around in the dark after all. After several tries Judy had finally managed to reach an overtired and chippy Finnick on the phone, and like she predicted he didn’t took a dim view of coming upstairs in an apartment full off cops and wanted to leave the area already with his van. It was Judy’s veiled threat, that she could describe his car as well as his license plate very well, and that currently every single officer of the ZPD was on the streets searching for two missing mammals. Finnick was yelling at her and probably wouldn’t condone her for this, but eventually he was willing to meet her upstairs – but he wouldn’t leave the elevator and only talk to her alone. Sven wanted to object to this plan and talk with Bogo in advance, but Judy could persuade him that they had no time and couldn’t risk to lose this unique chance. He insisted that she took her stun gun along and that he would keep her in view while waiting at the apartment door, but promised to make sure that neither Bogo nor another ZPD colleague would interrupt them.

“I’m sorry, chief. But I’m really unable to let you pass” Sven quickly pulled another stun gun from his pants pocket that he had found on Nick’s equipment belt, holding it up with trembling paws. “You can arrest me for all I care after this, but right now I cannot allow you to interrupt this meeting!”

Chief Bogo was staring at the rabbit that pointed the stun gun at him. He could probably overpower him, but Evelin’s husband was unstrung to a high degree and would probably injure them both; not to mention that the turmoil would scare off the informant for sure and Hopps would follow him without a second thought, something falling beyond the pale. He must try to de-escalate this situation somehow…

“Mister Hopps-Brooks, I don’t want to arrest you” Bogo started, being as calm as possible. “I know that you are desperate, and maybe we gave you the impression that we are not doing everything possible to find your wife. It must be really hard for you to just stay here without being able to do anything but wait. But I assert you, that right now every single officer that is available is working on this case and doing their best to get your both’ spouses back. Just take also in consideration that Judy isn’t herself and not making rational decisions! I’m just trying to save her from getting up to mischief that would not only risk her career but also everyone’s life!”

Sven was breathing deeply, blinking nervously along the hallway – but Judy was still standing in front of the elevator and talking with Finnick. Out of the corner of his eyes he noticed Bogo moving carefully, so he turned in his direction again, determined to impede him as long as possible.

As being empathetic didn’t seemed to work, Bogo decided to try something more aggressive: “Mister Hopps-Brooks, please… you are threatening the chief of the ZPD at gunpoint with a stolen stun gun of a police officer. Until now no harm was done and we still can settle this privately. But you have to put this gun down immediately and let me do my job!” When Sven didn’t move, he added: “You are causing a lot of trouble for Officer Hopps and Wilde, as this is one of their duty weapons! They could be suspended for allowing you to use it or just for leaving it lying about!”

“She has no idea that I took it…” Sven muttered, but Bogo shook his head.

“That doesn’t matter! I have to arrest you both if you don’t hand it over to me immediately!”

“When we can save Evelin or Nick, I’m willing to risk this” Sven suddenly lowered his voice: “But you will not sanction Judy for anything that’s happening here right now, she is pregnant and already in frail health”.

“Then just give me this stun gun, and I will forget about it!” Bogo said with some urge in his voice.

“You don’t understand, chief! While standing here and keeping an eye on Judy, I overheard your conversation in the work room; its right behind this hallway wall, and you were not really talking quietly!” Sven was getting really pale, as he was not only holding the ZPD chief at gunpoint but now even decided to concuss him to save Judy. But Bogo’s verbal commands to his colleagues were not the only thing he overheard fifteen minutes ago, and that ultimately convinced him that he had to do this now.

“What are you talking about?” Bogo said slowly, that rabbit actually caught him off-guard now.

“I’m talking about some kind of video you have found and want your colleagues to keep as a secret from us”.

“You don’t know what you are talking about…” Bogo wanted to object.

“You are right, I cannot look through walls, but we rabbits have a really excellent hearing. You don’t know what I’m talking about?” Sven hold the gun now even tighter, his face was desperately twisted with pain and on the verge of crying. “I’m talking about some blood-curdling screams and some piteously crying, for carrots sake!”

Bogo didn’t say anything. He wasn’t sure how much that rabbit really could hear, but obviously it was enough to count one and one together. Saying anything wrong now could make him ultimately freak out, getting the whole situation out-of-control.

“The only reason I’m not intending to say Judy anything about this, is that she already passed out more than once this evening. Her doctor warned me in confidence to keep all further excitement from her as it would endanger her pregnancy and could result in a spontaneous abortion. So I’m just asking two things from you right now…”

“That is?” Bogo said in a low voice.

“First of all… tell me the truth: Evelin and Nick, are they still alive and do you think there is a realistic chance to find them early enough?”

“Yes, both of it” Bogo muttered. “You have my word of honor”.

“Well, okay. Then the only other thing I’m asking for are just a few more minutes for Judy… let her follow through on her conversation with that informant. You can arrest me afterwards, I will not spill any word to her. But give her the chance to help Nick and Evelin”.

The Cape buffalo thought about Sven’s words for a moment. Then he nodded slowly and took a step back. “Okay, let’s hang tide… but I ask you to lower that gun before you are going to hurt anyone”.

* * *

### 01:44 o’clock, Hallway in front of Hopps-Wilde’s apartment

“And that’s everything you can tell me, Fin?” Judy finished some notes in her notepad and blinked along the hallway to her apartment. She heard some distant talking and discussing for more than ten minutes, presumably Sven trying to hold back Bogo from interrupting her talk with Finnick. But for a few minutes it was quiet now, she only saw Sven’s head looking in her direction every now and then.

“Oh, I have quite a lot more to say to you, but let’s defer this to later. Just never threaten me ever again, or you will be sorry” Finnick snapped at her, unlocked the stop-button of the elevator and pressed the button for the ground-floor.

“Thank you Finnick, and please take care of yourself!” Judy said with a sad smile. She hoped that their little friend would forgive her behaviors after a while, but she really had no choice. At least she didn’t had to threaten him with arrest; after explaining the situation that Nick also vanished and now was most probably in trouble, too, Finnick tried his best to answer her questions.

“Just get that moron of a red fox back…” the lift doors were closing slowly. “Good luck, Hoppsie-Copsie!” Finnick said with an unexpected friendly smile, then the doors snapped shut and the elevator was driving downstairs again.

Judy sighed relieved, that ran better than expected and maybe Finnick wasn’t really holding Judy’s behavior against her by now. At least Nick was his best friend, too. With the list of contacts and her notepad in her paws, she walked back to her apartment with quick steps.

* * *

### 01:48 o’clock, Hopps-Wilde’s apartment (hallway)

When Sven heard Judy’s footsteps along the hallway, he breathed deeply, handing the stun gun without a further word to Chief Bogo. The Cape buffalo grabbed it quickly, made sure it’s secured and put it in his belt with an angry grunt.

“I got all needed information, those should prove really helpful!” Judy entered the apartment with a small smile on her face and wagging with the notepad in her paws.

Sven smiled and hugged her softly, sniveling quietly. “I knew it all along that I can count on you! Now let me just ask you to keep it easy and take good care of yourself…” he gave her a kiss on her cheek and stepped back again.

Judy frowned somewhat. “Yes, of course. But why do you say that?”

“Don’t worry about me right now, there are more important things” he said and turned around to Bogo. “Okay, we can go, I will make no resistance”.

“What are you talking about, Sven?” Judy made a leap forward, now standing between Sven and Bogo. “What is happening here? Chief?”

Chief Bogo straightened himself, eventually coming to a conclusion. “Nothing. Let’s go into your living room and see what you got there, Hopps, and if it was worth all the trouble”.

* * *

### 02:06 o’clock, Hopps-Wilde’s apartment (living room)

The Cape buffalo was writing down some notes on his own while Judy reported all information she got from Finnick. Most of the unknown numbers were only petty criminals: scalping tickets, pirated movies, product counterfeiting, pickpockets … but the fennec fox knew most of them long enough to be sure that they would never go as far as dealing with drugs or even helping in kidnapping a cop. But one single contact was sticking out of that pattern – and Finnick was really feeling uncomfortable to talk about him, being even more surprised to learn that Nick was in contact with Ferris, a ferret and black-marketer of the deepest dye.

“I was informed, that this Ferris has connections to arms smugglers, contract killers, organized crime, drug dealers, blackmailing … he was never arrested as he is keeping his hands clean, officially only bargaining as information broker. But my informant was sure, that when anyone on this list would consider to threaten or even kidnap a cop, Ferris would do so without hesitation – if the price is right. Also he is living in the Nocturnal District, near the South-East-Gateway Nick used, too!”

“Sounds like he is our wanted mammal. Do you have an address? Maybe we should pay him a visit…” Bogo grunted.

“There is no exact address, but I have a description” Judy handed Bogo a note with a sketch of a few side-passages, including the sign that looked like a crescent within a rhomb. “I know you won’t let me accompany the task force…”

“You are damn right about this, Hopps!”

“…but I beg you to let me know about anything new you find out”.

Chief Bogo nodded, took the note and got up from his seat. “I will send Fangmeyer together with a special forces unit that is able to operate in those dark and small passages within the Nocturnal District”. He walked up to the work room, leaving the both rabbits alone, but eventually paused again and turned around: “And Hopps…”

Judy raised her head, “Yes, sir?”

“Good work!” Bogo suggested a smile, then nodded to Sven and disappeared in the small office.

Sven sighed, “I hope they will find them in time”.

“Don’t worry” Judy smiled somewhat more optimistic now, “As long as they don’t find traces indicating otherwise, we should assume that they are both alright and healthy”.

“Yeah…” Sven twitched nervously on his shirt. “I will make us some herbal tea, okay?”

* * *

### 02:27 o’clock, Hopps-Wilde’s apartment (work room)

“Anything new from our tactical teams, Snarlof?” Bogo asked after he had made sure the door to the work room was closed.

“Only some strange coincidence”, the polar bear said.

“I don’t believe in coincidences, what is it?”

“We had an attempted bank robbery a few months ago we could prevent. Most members of the chartered gang were killed and we could arrest two insiders. The gang leader did escape despite a fine-meshed computer-aided search, a timber wolf named Vlad Below”.

“I remember that case, a chartered cracksman was murdered in the hospital before he could made a testimony. Did you find any hints that Below may be involved in this kidnapping?”

“Not directly, sir. But the abandoned warehouse… it’s the same that Below used as a hideout back then. And it was Hopps’ plan that got his insiders arrested and defrauded him of a spoil worth more than 300.000 Zollars”.

Bogo thought about it for a moment, “This could really be just a coincidence, but you should command a few officers to check for more connections nevertheless”.

“Yes, sir!” Delgato took his radio, asking the dispatcher for a connection to Rhinowitz.

Bogo took his phone from his pocket, he didn’t want to spoil the raid on Ferris’ hideout via the public radio. If that ferret was really as well informed as Judy’s informant told her, he didn’t want to risk to forewarn a possible snitch in his own rows. Arresting Ferris could bring some trouble with internal affairs anyway, but right now that investigation was only second priority to him.

“Fangmeyer? This is Chief Bogo. I have a new task for you and your special operation taskforce: A raid in the Nocturnal District to find and arrest an armed and dangerous ferret named Ferris. We believe, that he was Officer Wilde’s last contact and wanted to meet with him.” – “Yes, use of live bullets is permitted, but we need Ferris alive by all means!” – “As soon as you can mobilize your taskforce, time is of the essence! I will upload all available information onto our secure server. Access code ‘95-Over-7-Blue-5’, the operation is classified as secret, only report directly to me” – “Good luck!”

As soon as he ended the call, Bogo turned to Bradley. “I need access to upload a classified mission order…”

* * *

### 02:57 o’clock, Hopps-Wilde’s apartment (living room)

Judy was laying on the couch, starring at the ceiling. Sven was kneeling on the floor, cleaning up the blood stains on the table and floor with some hot water and a sponge, after asking one of the two polar bears – he didn’t remember their name – for permission. When he walked back to the kitchen to put the cleaning supplies away again, he viewed the photos on the fridge: Nick and Judy dancing under a tree surrounded by cherry blossoms, Judy and Evelin cheering while driving a rollercoaster, a picture of Violet, Stella, Merlin, Alisha and Harry – the youngest litter born this summer of Stu and Bonnie Hopps, a photo of their shared wedding and a picture of Judy’s last ultrasonic examination.

“Excuse me…?” a lion in a police uniform had quietly entered the living room.

“Yes?” Judy got up immediately.

“There is a female rabbit at the door, she said her name was Doctor Kathrin Alisson and she wants to meet with you, Officer Hopps”.

Judy looked somewhat irritated, neither had she saw that officer in her apartment before nor had she heard the doorbell. “Yes, of course, she is my family doctor. Sorry, but who are you?”

“My name is Officer Randy Pawstrike, I keep guard on this floor tonight” the lion said, then left the room again.

“Did you know that the apartment is guarded?” Judy asked Sven and frowned.

“No, but it stands to reason for me”, he walked back into the kitchen and started to boil some more water for a fresh tea.

“Good evening, Misses Hopps-Wilde. I wasn’t sure if you are still awake” Doctor Alisson said with a soft smile when she entered the room. “How are you? Did you had any more sudden feelings of faintness?”

“Hello, Doctor Alisson. I’m fine, but thank you for visiting” Judy said weakly and yawned.

The older rabbit walked up to the couch and watched her patient closely. “You didn’t had some sleep, did you?”

“Every time I close my eyes I got some nightmares. Also I prefer to stay awake to be informed as soon as there are any news”.

“Any more dizziness, nausea or unusual pain?” Doctor Alisson asked but Judy shook her head. When Sven brought a can with fresh tea and a third cup, she turned around. “What about you, Mister Hopps-Brooks?”

Instead of giving an answer Sven just shrugged, put the can with tea down on the table and sat on the couch beside Judy again. The doctor sighed and shook her head, sitting down herself on an armchair. It was obvious that both rabbits were frazzled, physically and mentally. But Judy’s bloodshot eyes and jittery pulse were still somewhat worrisome.

“I do understand that you are both stirred up and sorrowful. But be careful that you are not biting off more than you can chew, in particular you Misses Hopps-Wilde! You are in frail health and the pregnancy is also more stressful than normal, leaving hardly any scope for additional stress factors. This can lead to really dangerous complications for your pregnancy after all”. Judy winced a bit frightened and Doctor Alisson sighed again. “We will work it out somehow, but only together. Come on, I want to examine you more thoroughly to make sure that everything is really okay”.

* * *

### 03:15 o’clock, Hopps-Wilde’s apartment (work room)

“Okay, good job. Bring Ferris directly to the mentioned safe house, we will meet there to interrogate him. All arrested accomplices are hold incommunicado, no phone call or contact to others for the time being! I don’t want anyone to be informed about the detention” Bogo ended the call and wanted to leave the work room.

“Chief!” Bradley exclaimed suddenly, sounding alarmed.

Bogo already had his hoof on the door handle and turned around impatiently. “I’m in a rush, what is it?”

The jaguar was typing furiously on his keyboard, “We were trying to trace the encrypted video signal back to its source, but every time we are on the point of identifying the source-IP, the encryption key changes as well as the used proxy servers and we have to start from scratch”.

“Are you saying that the whole IT Forensic Department of the ZPD isn’t able to track the source location of a video signal?” Bogo asked rabidly. “What about image analysis? Any saliences or other clues to limit the location?”

“We are still working on it, there are no identifiable serial numbers, no environmental sounds and there is no natural lighting through the only cellar window visible during night hours”.

Bogo muttered something and wanted to leave, but Bradley hold him back again: “This wasn’t what I wanted to show you, chief! The video wasn’t visible all the time as I was working on the tracking, and I switched off the sound as suggested. Hence I didn’t notice immediately…” he typed another command and the screen turned black.

“What happened, where is the video stream?”

“That’s what I’m trying to say, the transmission was aborted on the source-side and we have no further possibilities to trace it now”.

“Can you playback the last recorded minutes?”

“Just a moment, I’m currently trying to recover the video file, its header was corrupted when the transmission aborted” Bradley said while typing something into a hex editor, modifying the saved video file directly.

Bogo took a look on his watch and grumbled, he wanted to interrogate that ferret as soon as possible but the aborted transmission could also be important.

“Okay, that should do the trick…” Bradley started the video, breathed deeply and rubbed his eyes.

“Are you okay?” Bogo asked with another look to his watch. “Your shift started more than sixteen hours ago, maybe you should alternate with a colleague and take a rest”.

“I’m going nowhere until we have rescued them… sir”. Bradley said a bit too rough. “Sorry, I just need another cup of coffee. Okay, I’m forwarding to the last five minutes of the recording now”.

* * *

### 03:02 o’clock, unknown hideout

Nick was on the verge of unconsciousness again, having no idea how much time had passed already. He couldn’t reckon that the ram really would let Evelin go once he was dead. Of course, he would never consider to kill her – or anybody else – to safe himself, even if he would believe that he was released afterwards (what he didn’t). But as long as he could stick it out, Evelin was kept alive, forced to watch him suffer continuously. He could only guess that this mental torture was originally planned for Judy and her sister being kidnapped was indeed a mistake.

Evelin’s sobbing was rather quiet. She had cried and shouted her head off during the last hours, having red eyes and a sore throat by now. Feeling dizzy and trembling from coldness she was drained and passing out repeatedly. She couldn’t think straight by now, without her gag she already would have begged Nick to do whatever needed. A short pain from a neck bite would finally end all of this, including her own mental pain – the thought was more and more tempting to her by the minute.

“Well, you really manage to impress me, fox” the ram walked around Nick’s chair, then slowly retracted a long needle out of the fox’s shoulder who gave another wince of pain. “I had quite a few orders in the past years, some much more heavyweight than you. But only very few didn’t pass out after puncturing their ulnar nerve” the ram snickered. “That’s really promising, giving me the opportunity to try something new”.

Nick was sitting slumped on his chair, not even raising his head anymore to look what his punisher was up to next. He closed his eyes and was imagining how he first kissed Judy in the Hollow bar, her dumbfounded but delighted face when he proposed to her in the cinema, the glint in her eyes when they tied the knots; this cute little bunny meant the world to him and he would give his right arm to see this lovely face just one more time. This thought was all that was still keeping him conscious right now…

The ram was standing beside Nick again, removed quietly whistling the muzzle and jerked the fox’s head backwards by his ears. “You know, my grandfather was a successful dentist. While most other children are afraid to go to the dentist, I often sat in his medical office and watched him. It always gave me some sweet… sensation, watching those mammals full of fear when they sat down in his dental treatment chair. It didn’t matter if it was a young sheep or an old hippo, once they sat down in that chair, they were nothing more than a picture of misery and my uncle would spell doom for them: Was it some tooth decay or even a hole in the tooth? The sound of his drill was fascinating. But I will pass a secret to you…” the ram lifted his right arm, holding a rusty pincers right before Nick’s face. “I loved it the most when he had to extract a tooth! Of course he used a local anesthetic on his patients… but that’s really overrated in my opinion”.

When he grabbed with his hoof Nick’s snout to open it, the fox started to snicker, making the ram pause for a moment with irritation. After a few seconds he even started to laugh quietly.

“It seems, someone really has a thrill of anticipation, mh?” the ram chuckled and wanted to continue, but Nick mumbled something undistinguishable. “What did you say, pred-worm?” he asked impatiently, but Nick could only whisper. With a curious grin he leaned forward so that the fox could whisper into his ear.

“I will claw out your eyes and will make you pay for this” Nick whispered with a lame voice and started to giggle again.

The ram straightened up again with a sardonic smile. “Will you, mh? You are dead-alive, still bound to a chair and your fingers are broken…” he snickered amused.

Nick was still giggling and said, this time loud and clearly understandable: “Right, and because of this it was no skin off my nose to self-broke my thumb and free myself from your handcuffs”. He suddenly stopped giggling and with a blazing fast movement he stroke the thunderstruck ram in the face with his unbroken claws, making him scream in agony. The ram tumbled backwards, but Nick had already entangled the other arm around his neck, holding on to him with the claws buried into his fur. Angry and with a bleeding nose the ram turned around, knocking Nick down, but the fox didn’t let loose and eventually managed to bite into his neck. Screaming with pain the ram ran backward against the wall several times, trying to shake off the fox but only shattered the chair thereby. With Nick’s legs now being free, too, he kicked the ram into his back of the knees, causing them both to fall down. But several hours of torture had left some marks and Nick slide weakened over the floor. Angrily and on all fours the ram ran towards him, tossing the already abused body of the fox up into the air with his horns. Nick crashed against the wall, knocking down the notebook with the webcam and groaned with pain.

The ram pulled himself together, grabbed a large knife from the floor and yelled foaming: “You don’t wanna play anymore, clever-fox? Okay, that’s up to you!” With large steps he walked up to the still bound Evelin who had watched the fight, now being pale with terror when the ram winded up the knife, ready to slash her. “Game over”.

* * *

### 03:26 o’clock, Hopps-Wilde’s apartment (bedroom)

After Bogo had witnessed Nick’s failed attempt to overwhelm their captor and the outage of the video stream, he had to take a decision. Nick’s and Evelin’s time was ultimately running out and he had not enough time to question the arrested ferret the whole night. He would need the help of an experienced interrogation officer for this, but wasn’t sure who he could bring into the loop. Angry but also frustrated he left the work room, but only discovered Sven sitting on the couch in the living room.

“The situation has changed, Mister Hopps-Brooks. Where is Officer Hopps?” he muttered.

A few minutes later it knocked at Judy’s bedroom door. Doctor Alisson had just finished her examination.

“Come in” Judy said tired while sitting on the edge of her bed, buttoning up her blouse again.

Sven opened the door, accompanied by Bogo, and both were looking really worried.

“What happened?” Judy asked in consternation even before the two could say a word.

* * *

### 03:54 o’clock, ZPD safe house, unknown location

“The captive target is in the next room, sir” Fangmeyer saluted when Chief Bogo entered the safe house.

Bogo grunted something, walked past his Detective and eventually entered the other room. Ferris was handcuffed and sitting on a chair, two more tigers in protective vests and dark uniform watching him. The ferret didn’t seem to be really worried about the situation, leaning backwards and eyeing up the Cape buffalo.

“You must be the one in charge here” Ferris smiled. “Well, I’ll have a 47’s Château Cheval Blanc and a cheese platter to begin with. Oh, and do you have nigirizushi? Not this deep-frozen stuff, I’m talking about some freshly made one”.

“Somebody here swallowed a clown for breakfast, mh?” Bogo smiled slyly, then turned around to Fangmeyer. “A funny guy you got there…” he chuckled for a moment, but out of a sudden he turned back to the ferret, leaned forward and supported himself snorting with rage on the table. “You think you are clever? Feeling secure and unimpeachable because of your contacts, huh? Must be a really big gun if you actually believe you can get away with killing a cop” Bogo’s voice was low and threatening.

“You have got nothing on me, Buffalo Bill, but I will seek damages from you and every single mammal that charged my residence. Even your grandchildren will still have to pay for your little mistake here” Ferris smiled, still unimpressed. “And now I want to ring my lawyer. Dismissed, Sitting Bull”.

Bogo straightened up slowly. “Do you see a phone in here?” he pretended to look around the room. “Or any of your friends? Not me! However, what I’m seeing are some loyal and faithful special forces in a soundproofed room, together with a sassy and smug ferret that killed a colleague of them, and sadly just disappeared without trace out of a sudden. Maybe you really have some influential friends, and when they are going to file a missing mammal report for you, I will promise them with my friendliest smile that we will keep a lookout for you. The partner of the officer you killed will be really eager to take care of this case! But eventually they will just assume that the floor was getting too hot so you decided to leave the country”.

Ferris kept smiling at first, but Bogo’s voice was cold and calculating and his smile getting more and more sinister during his talk. When the ferret finally replied, he wasn’t smiling anymore and lost most of his confidence. “You are bluffing, you are a highly decorated cop, bubbling over with self-righteousness. Never would you overstep the mark. It would taint your oh so shiny badge…”

Chief Bogo seemed to think about the ferret’s words for a moment, took off his badge and eyed it in his hoof. “Maybe you are right, it would taint the badge I swore an oath to. But do you know what causes an even worse taint?” he angrily closed his hoof, fiercely clenching the badge. “The pointlessly shed blood of my officers. Shed by some low life like you. I’m really sick of it and going to clean my city once and for all, at all costs!” Bogo turned around to Fangmeyer who had watched the talking blandly. “I count on you, dispose him afterwards at the usual location”.

The tiger saluted and adumbrated a short nod to his both colleagues that were flanking the ferret. One of them put his arm around Ferris’ neck, tightening his grip without hesitation, while Bogo left the room, shutting the door behind himself.

“WAIT!” Ferris yelled in panic, “We can bargain about this!”

“You have nothing to offer but your pathetic life” Bogo muttered without turning around, but still paused within the doorframe.

“I swear, I didn’t kill the fox!”

“If you did it yourself or ordered one of your paid thugs to do it doesn’t matter”.

“No! He was still alive when we turned him in, it was just a paid job to kidnap him! We brought him to the warehouse that’s under foreclosure in the 13th Fog Street in the Rainforest District!” Ferris was gasping for air as the tiger was still holding him in a chokehold.

Bogo hesitated just a short moment, “Forget about it, we already found it as well as Officer Wilde… or what was left of him. You are really a sick bastard” he turned his head slowly and flashed his eyes at the now frightened ferret. “But don’t worry, we will grant you a merciful end – we are no monsters like you” Bogo snorted and finally left the room.

“Oh god, no! WAIT!!” Ferris gasped for air again, struggling frantically. “I can give you the name of the contract killer who did this! And I can also describe you the client who paid for Wilde’s abduction!”

Bogo allowed himself some time before entering the room again with a deadpan. After a short gesture with his hoof the tiger eased his grip somewhat and Fangmeyer left the room with a quick nod. The chief grabbed into his pocket and slapped down a notebook and a pencil onto the table. “You better not waste my time, or they can only identify you via DNA…”

* * *

### 03:22 o’clock, hideout in the 13th Fog Street, Rainforest District

Evelin cringed when she heard how Nick snapped his own thumb after the ram had removed the muzzle and while it narrated his little story about his grandfather. She didn’t understand why he did such a thing until the fox tried to overpower their kidnapper out of a sudden. The fight was going on for several minutes, but the ram was not only bigger and sturdier, Nick’s injuries were an additional handicap. After nearly ten minutes the combat was decided when the ram threw Nick through the air with his horns, knocking over both the table with the tools and also the computer. Evelin could hear him groan with pain, but their offender was already getting up again. With a large knife in his hoofs, he slowly walked up to the table she was still strapped onto. Pale with terror she watched with widened eyes how the ram was winding up the knife above her helpless body, a mad glint in his eyes.

“Game over” he ranted and let the blade whizzing downwards. Evelin squinted her eyes shut, made a quick prayer and eventually screamed into her gag with deadly terror, expecting the pain overwhelming her body.

But nothing happened, and after what seemed like an eternity she slowly opened her eyes again and her scream faded away. The ram had sunk onto his knees, rolled his eyes and finally collapsed passed out. Evelin had no idea what just happened and looked around. She found Nick, kneeling a few meters away on the floor and with something similar like a gun in his paw, breathing heavily.

“So, this is the effect of Etorphine” Nick said with a low voice, got up and walked limping up to Eve. “I wish he would have used it on me hours ago, his blathering was worse than the beatings” he mumbled.

Evelin was starring puzzled, then started to sob – but this time with a weak smile. In the meantime the fox took the knife and started to cut the ropes of her bonds. When he carefully removed her gag, she laughed quietly sobbing. “Even now you still have to yield a sly comment?”

“I’m just a dumb fox” Nick shrugged with his shoulders. “Stay lying down a bit more, I’m going to fetter this sadist and then will have a look after you”.

“No offence, but maybe _I_ should rather have a look after _you_ ” Evelin was still sobbing, rubbing her sore wrists. “Thank you, Nicky. I owe you my life and I will never ever forget what you did for me today” she sobbed.

Nick used the cut rope to bind the ram’s arms and feeds together, suppressing to cry of pain because of his broken fingers and used his teeth as an aid to tighten the knots; Evelin already had to hear enough of his screams for tonight. “Don’t get me wrong, but I would much rather that you _would_ forget about all of this…” he muttered.

The rabbit was still sobbing and holding her belly when Nick was painfully getting up again.

“You should try to take a deep breath, Eve. He didn’t hurt you, did he?” he viewed her worried. The question seemed ridiculous when asked by Nick: his fur was bloodstained, one eye and his lips swollen, burns in his fur from the cattle prod, limping, broken ribs and fingers, stuffy breathing and whistling respiratory sounds, … it was beyond Evelin’s gasp how the fox with this bad condition was even able to stay conscious, let alone stand up and talk with her.

After being constrained on the table for nearly twelve hours in this cold and drafty room, wearing nothing more than a dress and crying for the last hours, Evelin was also shattered: Sore joints, aching muscles, trembling from hypothermia, tearstained eyes and a hoarse throat. She also had a recurring pain in her belly that started a few hours ago and was getting worse. But still she tried to keep a stiff upper lip despise being afraid, Nick already had done enough for her. “I’m… okay, Nicky” she spoke pressed with a pinched smile.

Nick couldn’t smell anything with his swollen nose and his view was blurred, but it still didn’t slip his attention that Evelin was in pain and nearly freezing to death. He looked around but couldn’t find anything in the dimly lit room to use as a blanket. He sighed, but hesitated to touch Evelin’s arm. “Eve, don’t try and fool a former hustler.” Nick was only whispering painful. “You are freezing and trembling in every limb. I would warm you up, but… I’m somewhat untidy and all this blood wouldn’t be very pleasant for you” he retracted his paw again and looked like a dying duck in a thunderstorm.

“N-Nicky, don’t…” she grabbed after his arm, but only brushed him to not cause any pain. “It’s n-not… I’m not d-disgusted, only worried to h-hurt you” Evelin tried to suppress the chatter of her teeth while speaking.

Nick slowly leaned forward, putting his arms around the rabbit’s neck and shoulders. She hesitated but eventually put her arms also around his neck so Nick could lift her up carefully, pulling her body against his and cradling her softly. It was using the last of his strength and all of his willpower. Evelin’s body was actually reducing Nick’s pain somewhat by cooling his wounds, but that was also a bad sign as she was really hypothermic. It took a few minutes, Nick had laid beside Evelin on the table and embracing her with his arm, legs and tail, but as soon as she was feeling a bit warmer again, she started to sob uncontrollably. Her brother-in-law had closed his eyes, breathing really slowly and crawling soothingly her back and head. But the sobbing and trembling wasn’t the only thing he noticed and after ten more minutes he sighed.

“How long, Eve?” he whispered.

She continued to sob and sniveled quietly, “What do you mean?”

“How long are you already in labor, Eve? Or do you think I cannot sense how you are jerking in pain every few minutes?”

“It started a few hours ago, but it cannot be, it’s too early!” Evelin sounded frightened and started to cry quietly. “They will… stop again!” she grimaced again, groaning quietly.

“I fear not. Your contractions are coming with increasing frequency and you know it”. Nick opened his eyes again and leaned his head backward to look Evelin into her eyes. “Listen Eve, I have no idea when someone will find us here. The door has an electronic key lock and I doubt that our captor will give us the code voluntary, let alone the fact that he is still stunned for a while. I couldn’t find a phone in the ram’s pockets when I fettered him and the notebook was destroyed when it absorbed my fall…”

“You want to say that we cannot expect any help for an indefinite time and we are on our own”.

Nick nodded caring, “I know this was a terrible day, you are exhausted and probably afraid. But you cannot ignore your body now or you and your kits are at a serious risk”

“I’m really frightened, Nicky... it’s getting really painful, and under these conditions…”

“Don’t be afraid, I’m here for you…” he winked with his bloodshot eye. “And you can be glad of it because out of all foxes in Zootopia you could be locked-in with I’m most probably the only one who read a book or two about rabbit pregnancies recently”.

Evelin stopped sobbing and laughed quietly. “I’m glad that you are here with me…” she cringed again, grabbing his paw. “I don’t think there is a lot of time left!” Nick climbed down the table again and slowly undressed his shredded shirt. The rabbit smiled softly: “Not that I’m not appreciating this view under normal conditions, Nicky…”

The fox hinted a smile, too, then wiped with the piece of cloth his paws and the table as clean as possible and hold her paw again. “Everything will be alright, I promise you. We are now both going to breathe deeply… lay back and try to relax, Eve”.

* * *

### 04:19 o’clock, Hopps-Wilde’s apartment (living room)

Sven sat beside Judy on the couch together with Bradley, Snarlof and Grizzoli were standing near them; they all were listening unstrung to the conversations on the radio. Doctor Alisson had tried to persuade Judy that this was too stressful, but of course the rabbit had a mind of her own: About an hour ago Chief Bogo summarized what happened without going into details, finally asking her for some handy tips to interrogate Ferris as he couldn’t risk to let any other officer in on his arrest and she was still one of his most talented officers when it came to questioning suspects. Judy’s suggestion didn’t please Bogo, but he eventually agreed that it was their best chance. Doctor Alisson made sure, that Judy was really able to support the Chief during this operation, but eventually she had to go home to get a few hours of sleep herself. Again she made Judy and Sven promise to call her in case of an emergency, leaving another small dosage of the light sedative behind for Judy – just to be sure.

While Bogo was driving to the safe house, Judy walked through the official profile of Ferris that Bradley had downloaded from the police database. The Cape buffalo was wearing a hidden earpiece when he started his conversation with Ferris, getting tips and instructions from Judy who was listening to it on the radio, sitting in her living room. Threatening the ferret with jail time would have been a waste of effort. The Chief of the ZPD was also a prominent mammal in Zootopia, Ferris would never believe that the buffalo would commit violence against him just to get a confession. Their only chance was to bluff, pretending that they already found Nick’s corpse – and that his death was ultimately driving the upright character of the chief to extreme measures. Ferris was a gambler and an information-monger. If they could sell him that Chief Bogo was on a vendetta and had hired a loyal Special Forces unit to finally take the law into his own paws, Judy was sure that Ferris would try everything to bargain with him – according to his profile he was profoundly convinced that everyone was willing to bargain.

Judy’s plan did work out and the ferret revealed the address of a warehouse in the Rainforest District. Bogo already wanted to abort the interrogation and send Fangmeyer’s team, but Judy hold him back – she was sure that Ferris wouldn’t bargain with his most valuable information on his first try. After Bogo said that Nick was dead the ferret would appeal reliable by telling them the address of the warehouse without having disclosed some really important information. So they had to up the stakes … and got the name of a contract killer – a ram called ‘Bud Ramstad’ – and the description of a Timber Wolf that paid for Nick’s abduction.

Fangmeyer had left the safe house like preconcerted and was, together with his small unit, on his way to the named address. They had just arrived at the facility and started to search it with infrared cameras, but the warehouse was rather large.

“Main floor secured, now entering the lower basement” Fangmeyer radioed via their encrypted channel – only his team, Chief Bogo with his earpiece and Bradley’s notebook could communicate this way.

Judy were huddling on the couch, Sven embracing her carefully. After the interrogation was finished, Snarlof and Grizzoli tried to convince her that she and Sven shouldn’t listen to the mission reports of Fangmeyer’s team. Nobody knew what they would discover in that warehouse but the last seconds of the video stream were ominous and they all wanted to spare the rabbits some bad news via a radio message. If they were still hold captive at that warehouse at all.

“We found a roosting place. It’s abandoned. Still no heat signatures” another team member radioed.

Bradley’s notebook played a notification sound and Judy could read a small popup on the screen before the jaguar quickly closed it. “What video are you working on?” she asked curiously – the only videos she knew of in this case were those of the security cameras. But the popup notified about a finished video segmentation analysis, a process of automatically analyzing every single frame of a video by their ‘Trinity’ software – something that is done with all videos of the security cameras nevertheless. That message indicated, that Bradley had uploaded a foreign video to their servers. But what kind of video?

“Just… a security camera feed we found in… the suspects house” Bradley disabled all further notifications on his notebook and brought the communication software back into the foreground.

Judy’s ears twitched, not only was Bradley a really bad liar, the fact that he was obviously hiding some information was a bit alarming. “Brad, I just successfully beaconed an interrogation via radio, don’t even try to lie to me!”

“Maybe you should relax a bit, Ju…” Sven interrupted her. “They are tracking down Evelin and Nick in that warehouse right now, who cares for an unimportant video right now”.

Judy stared at him puzzled – why wasn’t Sven also eager to find out more about a video that was related to their case? She could notice that he was getting nervous, too, but still pretend to not care …

“What are you talking about, Sven? Of course I care for everything that is even only slightly relev…” Judy began but was interrupted by the radio, much to Bradley’s relief.

“We have a closed door, secured with an electronic key lock. Two positive heat signatures within the room, both on the floor, not moving. Trying to bypass the lock now”.

“Sweet cheese and crackers” Judy gasped with her paw above the mouth. “They are really there, we have to go immediately!” she jumped off the couch and Sven followed her. But Snarlof blocked off their way to the hallway.

“We have orders to stay here, Hopps” he muttered.

“Get outta my way!” Judy said angrily.

“Hopps…” Grizzoli appeared at her side, impatiently rolling his eyes. He was always taking umbrage at hers and Wilde’s rebellious behavior, and the fact that they got away with it most of the time. And he wasn’t willing to disobey a direct order from the chief for them. “Please, sit down again. We are waiting for further instructions and until then neither you nor anybody else is leaving this apartment!”

“How dare you…” she snarled at the polar bear, but Sven put a paw on her shoulder.

“Judy, please. Just calm down” he said with a trembling voice.

“I don’t …” she began, but was interrupted by the radio again.

“Using a Frisbee to open the door”

“Did they say a Frisbee?!” Sven asked puzzled and Judy sighed.

“A detonating cord, rolled up to a flat spiral with an adhesive film on one side. It’s attached to a door or lock, causing a small but targeted explosion to burst it open” she explained, walking up and down the living room.

* * *

### 04:40 o’clock, hideout in the 13th Fog Street, Rainforest District

There was a loud explosion at the door that made Evelin wince, but Nick didn’t move. He was sitting on the floor, leaning against some large pipe, and had embraced the rabbit in an attempt to keep her warm. But maybe ten minutes ago he stopped answering to Evelin and eventually got unconscious. When the door was forced open, Evelin was blinded by some flashlights and leaned protectively forward.

“One ram down, fettered and not conscious” one of the masked tigers in uniform said apparently to no one special, maybe into a hidden radio.

“There they are!” another tiger yelled, hurried towards them and kneeled down right beside the fox.

“Main targets found, standby” the first tiger said into his radio.

Fangmeyer carefully put his paw onto the trembling rabbits shoulder. “Don’t worry, Ma’am. We are from the ZPD and want to rescue you. Are you okay?” Evelin nodded slowly without raising her head. “Wilde?” Fangmeyer turned to the fox, but got no answer. “Hey, Nick! Can you hear me, pal?” he took off his gloves and tried to feel Nick’s pulse on his neck.

“He is alive” Evelin whispered weakly, this time slowly raising her head, “But he passed out some time ago and his breathing and heartbeat is fading away” she sobbed. Fangmeyer nodded and wanted to help her to get up, but Evelin just shook her head, leaning forward and embracing Nick again.

Fangmeyer pressed a button on his collar that apparently was some kind of microphone: “Misses Hopps-Brooks is alive and responsive but Officer Wilde is unconscious”. He turned around when one of his colleagues came running with a first aid bag and gave him some place to examine the two victims.

“We secured the rest of the lower basement, no one else is here. The ambulance is arriving in a few minutes” the other tiger said while getting some gauze from the backpack and an infusion bag.

* * *

### 05:15 o’clock, in front of the warehouse in the 13th Fog Street, Rainforest District

When Snarlof and Grizzoli arrived in their police rover, two ambulances and several other police cars with flashing blue lights were blocking the street. The moment the car stopped, both rear doors flung open and Judy as well as Sven leaped out of the car and dash across the street.

In the first ambulance the ram was examined, handcuffed to the stretcher and one officer of Fangmeyer’s task force watching him. Judy ran past it after a quick look, opened the backdoor of the second ambulance and leaped onto the footboard, Sven closely behind her.

“Nick!” / “Evelin!” both rabbits exclaimed at once.

Nick was laying down on a stretcher, most of his body wrapped up in extemporary bandages and an IV line in his arm. He was conscious again, but still too weak to raise his head. Evelin sat beside him on a bench, also having an IV line and wrapped in a heating blanket. She had tears in her eyes while a paramedic was taking her blood pressure, but when she turned her head to Sven and Judy she smiled happily.

Sven hurried to his wife, engulfing her in a firm hug with tears of joy in his eyes. “I thought that I will never see you again, whiskers!” he sobbed quietly.

“Hey, carrots” Nick whispered really quite and tried to smile at his wife.

Judy was white-faced when she approached Nick and viewed all his injuries, starting to cry. “Sweet cheese and crackers, Nick! What for blueberries sake happened to you?” She didn’t even had the courage to touch him and tears were running down her cheeks – but Judy still smiled and was glad that he was alive after all.

“Just a small dissent with your little sister, carrots” Nick whispered and tried to smile even more.

“What are you talking about, dumb fox?” Judy laughed with a sob and wiped with her paw some tears away.

“Well, I held the view that a warm and cozy hospital bed will be the right place to give birth for a cute little bunny, but Eve decided that a cold and wet cellar room would be better” he coughed painfully, but then tried to smile again.

“W-what?” Judy asked with a puzzled grin.

Nick turned his head around to the two other rabbits, Sven looking as puzzled as Judy. Evelin snuffled with a sleepy smile and slowly pulled the heating blanket to the side, revealing four tiny, furless bunny babies that were huddling against her, sleeping peacefully.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for all the drama within the last few chapters. As you may have guessed, it's some preparation for a new storyline - with the third part / season coming to an end, soon. But you can expect the next part of the series to be lighter again, I promise! Hope you liked it nevertheless... :)
> 
> Also, there is a short survey regarding this story. I want to get some more insights into what you like and what you don't like: <http://zootopiachronicl.es/Survey/> \- there is also a small sweepstake, so give it a shot :)


	9. Licking Wounds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There were only 36 hours between Judy's big birthday party and the major police operation that followed after Evelin and Nick were kidnapped. After going through hell, Nick was finally able to overpower their kidnapper. He even helped Evelin giving birth and tried to held the hypothermic bunnies warm until help was finally arriving. It's finally time for some rest... (maybe)
> 
> [](https://starwishermidnight.deviantart.com/art/My-Brave-Beautiful-Bunny-686723522)  
> ("My brave, beautiful Bunny" by StarWisherMidnight, featuring Sven and Evelin with their newborns)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There it is, the long awaited update and next chapter! Sorry to all readers that had to wait for so long. I had some kind of a writer's block, as the story had a rather dark theme for the last chapters. But I wasn’t inactive the whole time, as I’m contributing a few stories to the “[What if…](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11367210/chapters/25446225)”-Project by [Cimar WildeHopps](http://archiveofourown.org/users/WildeHopps/pseuds/WildeHopps). The first one is already published and I will cross-publish it in a few days also on my accounts. As there was quite some positive response to it, I will add a few more chapters to that story, too. So if you like some fluffy and a bit comedic stories, you may want to take a look at those.
> 
> In the meantime, there is also quite some artwork available for this story! Besides two complete comics to chapters 3x01 (by nacchan96) and 3x06 (by Koraru-San), there are also a few other drawings like the wedding-picture of the double-wedding with Nick/Judy and Sven/Evelin! Also, a picture showing Evelin and Sven with their newborn kits, sitting in the hospital, is available for this chapter (both by StarWisherMidnight). You can find all artwork on [my account on DeviantArt](https://anheledir.deviantart.com/favourites/73431972/Chronicles-of-Zootopia) under the nickname “Anheledir”! I’m also posting the status and some snippets from upcoming chapters there, so take a look if you like.
> 
> For the future of this story, I have decided, that it is time to slowly come to an end: There will be a few more chapters to finish that big story-arc that actually started way back in episode 1x07, and there will probably be a sequel to this story. But this one is already going on for so long. As it was also my first fanfiction, I’m carrying quite some legacy with bad writing and grammar with me in the early chapters. I will rework those, once I finished the story. And the introduced OCs and Nick and Judy’s relationship will be part of most upcoming stories, making this one some kind of an (hopefully interesting) introduction. But now let’s start with the actual chapter, I know you want to read more about little baby bunnies ;-)

_“Dogs are wise. They crawl away into a quiet corner and lick their wounds and do not rejoin the world until they are whole once more.” --Agatha Christie_

* * *

Both Sven and Judy were widening their eyes when they saw those four tiny, furless kits, cuddling in Eve’s lap with closed eyes.

“Oh my goodness, Eve!” Judy squeaked with pleasure, holding her paws over her mouth.

Sven couldn’t say a word and had tears of joy in his eyes, carefully reaching out for his little kits and finally pet them carefully.

“They just didn’t want to wait any longer” Evelin sniffled with a happy smile. “I thought about naming the two boys ‘Nicky’ and ‘Pips,' adapted from Nick’s name. They wouldn’t be alive without him”.

“That's an excellent idea, hon” Sven smiled happily, giving her a kiss on the cheek. “What do you think, Nick?”

All three rabbits turned their head to the red fox on the stretcher, but Nick had his eyes closed with a soft smile on his snout and didn’t react. Judy’s happy smile disappeared at once, and with a concerned look, she turned her ears in his direction, carefully putting her paw on his cheek.

“Nick… are you okay? Say something, dumb fox…” Judy whispered, but the slight twinge of panic in her voice didn't slip neither Sven’s nor Evelin’s attention. The worried doe tried to feel his pulse on his neck, but Judy’s paw was just trembling too much. She couldn’t even concentrate enough to listen to his heartbeat, her own whooshing blood and her heart that was palpitating with fear were all she could hear right now. “Nick! Wake up! Please…” she started to sob and fell down on her knees.

Sven leaped up from the bench, searching for the medic who left them just a few moments ago. Evelin bundled up her kits again, then stroked with her paw over Judy’s head and ears.

“Calm down, sis. He is only sleeping, I can still hear his heartbeat. It’s a little bit slow, but consistent” Eve smiled somewhat.

“A-Are y-you sure?” Judy sobbed and wiped some tears away with the back of her paw.

“Yes, you are just too psyched to hear it” Evelin smiled exhausted to Judy and padded on the bench. “Come here, sit down, Juju. Don’t worry about Nick, the medic gave him a sedative just before you and Sven arrived and it’s probably taking effect now. He really deserves a break”, Eve reached out to cover Nick with his blanket.

“Sweet cheese and crackers, what happened to your wrists?” Judy gasped, only now realizing that her sister had sore streaks at her wrists and ankles.

“It’s where the manacles were. Could be worse, actually.” Evelin put one arm around Judy’s shoulders and leaned her head against hers – suddenly starting to sob quietly.

Judy turned around and held her sister tight, stroking her head and ears. “I’m so sorry, Eve! That’s all my fault. But you are safe now, I promise.”

Evelin was still sobbing quietly when Sven finally came back together with the emergency doctor. The white cougar looked questioning to the two rabbits, but the younger sister made a small gesture with her paw, then wiping some tears away. “I’m okay, but my sister is worried about her husband here…” she sniffled without disengaging from Judy’s hug.

“He was talking when we arrived, but now isn’t reacting anymore. How bad are his injuries? Will he be okay?” Judy asked worried, still tickling Evelin’s head and shoulders.

The white cougar looked a bit skeptical. “I cannot provide any medical information to anyone other than immediate family. Sorry to ask this, but is he really your husband, Ma’am?”

Judy sighed and rolled her eyes, nodding slowly. “Yes, we are actually married. My name is Judy Hopps-Wilde. Furthermore, we are both officers with the ZPD and partners. So would you please tell me what’s up with him, or do I really have to call some colleagues to confirm this first, Doctor…?”

The cougar slowly shook his head, “Jacob Marcotte, Ma’am. And I didn’t want to judge you, it’s just my job to ask”. Jacob put on his stethoscope and listened to Nick’s heartbeat and other breath sounds. Afterward, he took the blood pressure cuff from a rack and checked his blood pressure, closely monitored by a worried looking Judy. After he had finished his quick examination, he turned to the rabbit and smiled softly.

“For the moment he is okay, I gave him a sedative. His blood pressure is a bit weak, but because of that, he’s getting a transfusion with haemapure. The biggest risks were his hypothermia and a pleural effusion caused by trauma, probably two broken ribs on his left side. I inserted a thoracic catheter to remove the blood from the chest cavity, but we still have to take an X-ray of his chest to see how things look in there. Also, he seems to have suffered some trauma to his face, and his cheek bone is more than likely fractured. That’s a minor issue in the grand scheme of things. Fortunately, the broken fingers on his right paw should heal without further complications. The burns will probably result in some scarring, though, and…”

“Please… stop, enough already” Judy blubbered out, her whole body trembling. “Will he recover?”

“I cannot promise anything, there are always possible complications. But if I venture a prognosis, it looks quite promising, and your husband will make a full recovery.” The emergency doctor said with a soft smile. “Now excuse me please, I will organize your transportation to the hospital.” The white Cougar nodded to Sven and Evelin, then left the ambulance again.

Sven had sat down on the bench beside Evelin again, stroking her back softly. “And you are really okay, whiskers?” he sounded a bit worried, looking at her wrists.

“I’m okay, hon, it’s not as bad as it looks like, just a bit sore and a headache. A snatch of sleep in a warm and cozy bed and I’m okay again, I promise.” Evelin gave her husband a soft kiss on his cheek and smiled tiredly.

“What has happened to you both?” Judy tried to stop sobbing, helplessly staring at her unconscious fox.

Evelin sighed and traded looks with Sven – she noticed his sad and grief-stricken glance immediately. It was evident that he knew more than he had told Judy, but how much did he really know? At least Judy seemed to be clueless, and for the moment this was probably the best thing.

“Hey, Ju Ju…” Evelin said quietly while she put her paw around one of her little kits. “Do you want to hold little Kathryn for a while? She was the first little one your hero in red fur helped to deliver…”

Judy wiped her tears away with the back of her paw and looked down to the baby rabbit. She carefully put both her arms around her, holding the little bunny warm and tight. The kit had, of course, no fur, yet, but her skin was already rather dark. Judy could feel how the little heart was beating within her paws and she instinctively started to smile.

“Hello, Kathryn” she whispered to the little bunny that was already cuddling with Judy’s warm and soft fur. She gave him a gentle kiss: “Welcome into our world, sweetie.”

* * *

It was half-past six when the ambulance finally arrived at the hospital, and Nick was immediately carried away for some further examinations. Judy followed them, keeping her eyes glued to her fox, while Sven and Evelin were conducted into a hospital room.

“You can just lay down on the bed, Misses Brooks. The doctor on duty will be here in a few moments” the nurse said with a smile. Another nurse was wheeling in a baby crib, covered with a lot of small pillows and blankets. Sven was holding two of his kits in his paw, crawling their tiny heads with a dreamy smile, while Evelin licked the tummies of the other two kits.

“Is it okay to just hold them a little longer?” he asked with a rather thin voice.

“Yes, of course. If you need anything, just press the call button” the nurse smiled and left the room, closing the door behind.

Sven and Evelin were just sitting side by side for a while, leaning their heads together and watching their first litter sleeping in peace. It was the male rabbit who suspended the silence first:

“I am sorry, Evelin.”

“For what, darling?” she smiled softly. “There is nothing I’m holding against you.”

“I wasn’t there for you when you needed me the most” he quietly said, having tears in his eyes. “I was afraid to never see you again, and the fact that I let you down was the only thing I could think of.”

“You didn’t let me down, hun” Evelin sighed and gave him an endearing kiss. “There was absolutely nothing you could do to prevent all of this. And most importantly, we are finally back together, and our kits are all healthy”.

“And they are as beautiful as their mother” Sven smiled, replying with a kiss when someone knocked on the door, and a hare in a white coat entered their room, accompanied by a sheep.

“Good morning!” he greeted them somewhat tired but with a friendly smile. “My name is Doctor Haywood, how are you Mrs. Hopps-Brooks?” Evelin and Sven greeted him with a handshake, and while the nurse was preparing some tincture and bandages, the hare examined the doe's ankles and wrists carefully.

* * *

Judy could barely keep her eyes open, sitting on the edge of the hospital bed and holding Nick’s paw for the last hour. She had a headache, and her chest was hurting again, but still, she wasn’t willing to let Nick alone for even a single minute.

“He will be asleep for the rest of the day, maybe you should go home and take some rest, too,” the nurse said to Judy while checking Nick’s vital signs. When the bunny didn’t react, the nurse sighed and left the room. After a few minutes, she returned and put her paw on Judy’s shoulder. “Here… this will be more comfortable” the young lioness smiled friendly when the overtired rabbit slowly turned her head and gave her a pillow. “Formally you aren’t allowed to sleep here, but practically…” she shrugged.

“Thank you,” Judy said quietly with a grateful smile and took the pillow. When the nurse switched off the light and left the room again, the gray rabbit put her pillow beside Nick’s and slowly crawled under his blanket. With her legs and arms carefully embracing his body, she buried her nose in his fur, and after less than a minute she was already deeply asleep.

Nobody noticed how the door handle was carefully pulled or when the door was opened just a small gap. Seeing both, the fox and the rabbit, being asleep, some mammal entered the room quietly, closing the door behind him again. His eyes were coal black, and his face mirrored the restrained hate. In his right paw, he had a scalpel. No more mind games, he would only cut both their throats while they were asleep. Playing games was beside talking too much one of the biggest weaknesses of most villains. Even his boss wanted to demonstrate how clever he was: Fooling around with the IT guys of the ZPD, physical torture for the Fox and mental one for the rabbit before eventually killing them, all while their friends and colleagues had to helplessly watch. He had no exact idea why his boss had planned all of this. But the room-intruder had some personal reasons to eliminate those cops – more than once he was humbled by them and they even thwarted his own plans several times. But this would end today. Just three more steps… two… one…

The room was abruptly lightened when the door was opened by a tigress, wearing some uniform of the Special Forces that already raided the warehouse a few hours ago. Within a fraction of a second, the first mammal let the scalpel vanish inside his shirt sleeve, silently cursing.

The tigress had not expected to discover some visitor in this hospital room, doing just her regular rounds like ordered by Fangmeyer. When she noticed the other mammal in the room, bending over the hospital bed, she reached for her weapon and said in a commanding voice: “Who are you, what are you doing in here? In this part of the hospital are no visitors allowed! I need your ID card and have to report you to…” – The other mammal was slowly turning around, smiling softly. The lioness immediately stands at attention, securing her gun. “Sir! I’m sorry, I didn’t recognize you! We secured the in-patient department on this floor and were instructed that nobody is allowed to visit the victims without explicit permission of the Chief or Detective Fangmeyer. I assume you already talked to them?”

“Sorry, it was a hard night. No, I didn’t talk to the Chief yet, I just wanted to make sure that Hopps and Wilde are both safe and sound” the other mammal said with a calm and quiet voice.

“Of course, sir! We can just go to the shift supervisor, he will make sure you are probably registered as a visitor and get your permission from Chief Bogo. We have to comply with formalities, Sir, but of course, you are already aware of this”. The tigress suggested a small smile and hold the door open for the other mammal.

“That’s all right, but as those two are still asleep, I will postpone my visit and getting that clearance from the Chief in the meantime. As you were!” he nodded slowly and walked down the corridor, acutely aware that the tigress was still watching him alerted after closing the door to the hospital room again. “Damn it” he muttered after leaving the hospital through the main entrance, throwing the scalpel into the next trash bin.

* * *

“It won’t get easier, you know that, right?” Sven smiled somewhat amused and put his smartphone down again. The last sunbeams of Twilight were twinkling through the window of their hospital room. The young rabbit family had slept the whole day – as the father of the newborn kits he got his own bed in their single hospital room, but as both beds were big enough for mammals like bears or tigers he slept together with his wife in the same one.

After the nurse had brought them some sandwiches and hot tea for supper, he wanted to recall Evelin’s siblings who tried to call them several times during the day while they were still asleep. Judy and Sven had decided to inform nobody in Bunnyburrow without having more information. But it seemed that Clara and Ralph had nonetheless quickly noticed that her little sister and her husband didn’t arrive in Bunnyburrow as planned. At least there was no unanswered call from Evelin’s parents – or even worse, his own relatives – yet.

“I know, hun. But the moment we tell them that I already gave birth to four cute and healthy bunnies, they want to visit us immediately with all our siblings. And that’s the moment we would have to explain that we are not in the Bunnyburrow-Hospital, but still in Zootopia. At the latest when they arrive here they will notice my injuries, and after all, what happened to Judy a few weeks ago, they would totally go nuts now, prohibiting everyone to ever revisit the city…” Evelin eventually sighed, rolled her eyes and shrugged.

Sven snickered, sat down on the edge of her bed and gave her a soft kiss while putting his arm around her shoulders. “I’m sure it would not get as worse as you are suggesting. You are alive and healthy, and our kits are all saved and healthy, too. That’s the main thing, whiskers. But when we are not calling your siblings back shortly, they will get really nervous and eventually inform our parents before we get a chance to intervene” he winked.

“At least let us talk with Juju first. They surely tried to call her, too, and we should synchronize what we are going to tell them” Evelin smiled, returning his kiss. Then she hesitated for a moment and looked worried again. “That brings us to the question, what we are going to tell Judy. She seems to have no idea, but I could read off your reaction while we were in the ambulance, that you are anything but clueless. How much do you already know?” her voice was rather quiet now, having a slightly scared look in her eyes.

The black rabbit sighed and dropped his gaze, watching their four little baby bunnies sleeping peacefully in their crib. “I don’t know a lot, whiskers. But I heard… things… from a video through a wall. And eventually, Bogo told me somewhat more in confidence so I would agree that he asks Judy … for help”. He tried to answer as vaguely and cagey as possible, feeling uneasy to be reminded of these events.

“What did you hear from this video?” Evelin asked with a calm but still worried voice, caressing softly over his cheek with her paw. When he hesitated to answer, she sighed. “We need to talk about it, darling. Just don’t forget, that whatever you overheard, there was a happy end and I’m here with you again”. She hugged him tenderly, fondling with his drooping ears.

When Sven finally started to talk, his mouth was dry and his voice a bit shaky. “At first I could only hear someone whistling some kind of melody. But after a few seconds, there were some stifled screams of pain… and… some…” he paused, closing his eyes and holding Evelin’s paw even tighter. “There was also some muffled … desperate crying… from someone with an apparently higher pitched voice…” – Sven had some tears in his eyes, his wife holding him tight with a sad look on her face. “I didn’t know what happened, but could only imagine the worst. And when the Chief later told me, that Nick had tried to overpower their kidnapper, but eventually failed … I was sure that I had lost you and that you were dying in that very moment alone and being in mortal fear”.

“Good God! Sven… I don’t know what to say…” she sobbed quietly, kissing and hugging her sniveling husband affectionately. “I wish you hadn’t witnessed anything of that.”

After sitting on the bed and consoling each other for several minutes, Evelin finally asked him with a quiet voice: “And how much of this does Judy know?”

“I didn’t tell her what I overheard from that video. And after the Chief said about Nick’s failed attempt to overpower your kidnapper, we decided to not tell her either. Not without knowing what happened exactly”.

“You actually left her in the dark about the possibility that… that we… what… happened?” Evelin was glaring at him in disbelief. “Sweet cheese and crackers! That explains her mortally scared facial expression when she saw Nick in that ambulance. How dare you? She is a police officer, not some dumb country-bunny! She …”

“Whiskers, please… it was no easy decision, really! But Ju was in an exceptional state that evening. She passed out several times, we had to call her family doctor. Actually, she concealed the fact that she had quite some pain in her lower abdomen for nearly two days. She was also enfeebled the whole day and the message of you being kidnapped made her finally collapse. And when Nick vanished without telling anybody what he was up to, she was just a nervous wreck, and her doctor told me in confidence that she has to settle down by all means to prevent a sudden termination of her pregnancy. I really couldn’t tell her anything – for her own good! Even if it was difficult and I felt more than uneasy with it”.

During Sven’s narrative, Evelin gasped a few times, holding her paws in front of her mouth. When he finished, she just shook her head slowly. “I’m sorry that I blamed you, I didn’t know the half of it!”

Sven smiled softly, caressing her cheeks. “Don’t mention it, whiskers.” But he quickly got serious again, eventually asking quietly: “Do you want to tell me what happened in that basement?”

Evelin’s face grows dark, her eyes staring blankly on her paws and the bandaged wrists.

“Sorry, just forget my question…” Sven said quickly, putting his arms around his shivering wife and holding her tight.

But the gray bunny slowly shook her head. “It’s hard to talk about it, and I don’t want to frighten and falsely alarm you retrospectively.”

“Just be assured that I’ll be there for you, whenever you are ready to talk about it.”

“Thanks, hun.”

They cuddled for awhile, but finally, Evelin started to climb out of her bed, wearing a hospital gown instead of her ruined dress. Sven watched her while she walked to the washbasin, dousing first her paws and then her face and ears with some cold water. When she turned around, Sven was still watching her with a slight grin.

“What?” Eve asked curiously.

“Those hospital gowns are open on the backside…” he winked.

Evelin poked her tongue at him and replied his grin. “Something you’d better understand: Juju will ask me a lot of questions about last night. And you know that she is a living lie detector! Even if Nick hasn’t told her anything yet, I don’t think that I will be able to fool her. And to be honest, I don’t want to lie to her. She is my best friend, and there was never ever any secret between us”.

Sven nodded slowly, “I know, whiskers.”

She sat down on his lap and smiled softly. “I would suggest, we are going to search Nick’s room. For one I really want to know how he’s doing – at least I owe him my life and that of our kits” she smiled with a side glance to the crib. On the other hand, I bet that we will find Juju, too, if we find Nick” she winked knowingly.

“And our phone call to your siblings?”

“Well, send them a message that everything is okay and that we are currently busy, but will call them later. That should silence them for a while without crying havoc to our parents” she smiled. “After talking with Judy, we discuss how much we should tell everybody.”

Sven nodded and tied up some laces at the back of Evelin’s gown with a light smile. He was somewhat afraid to face Nick or Judy. The black rabbit secretly reproached his sister-in-law that his lovely wife was confused with her while staying alone in the apartment due to Nick and Judy enjoying a dumb baseball game. And he blamed himself for Nick’s condition because the fox saved Evelin when he couldn’t do it himself. Sven felt really sheep for his thoughts, knowing they were nonsense. As he didn’t want to bother his brave bunny with them, he just stood up from the edge of the bed, typing a quick message with his phone and walked over to his stout bunny who was carefully taking their kits on her arm.

* * *

Nick was stroking Judy’s head and ears now for a while with his good paw. His little rabbit was cuddling with his tail, burying her own muzzle into his warm and soft fur. They were both awake for quite a while, but neither of them had said a word until now, just enjoying the darkness and silence around them. They could only sense each other, and no words could have better expressed the bonding both were feeling thereby.

The silence was cut off when someone knocked gently at their door. Nick didn’t react, but Judy’s ears twitched instinctively. After maybe ten seconds it tapped again, this time a bit steadier. The Fox sighed quietly, giving Judy a soft kiss between her ears and closed his eyes, knowing that their silence would be finally interrupted every second now. When the door was finally opened, she blinked a few times due to the bright light from the corridor that directly beamed onto their bed.

“Told you she is awake, hun” Evelin smiled and nudged her husband into his side, entering the room slowly. “Hey, Juju…” she smiled even wider, quickly walking towards the only bed.

Judy slowly sat up on the bed, opened her arms wide and when Evelin was finally near enough she hugged her as tight as she could. “Eve…” she sobbed quietly, and her little sister patted cradling her back. “I’m so sorry…”

“Psshh… It’s okay, Judy. You don’t have to be sorry for anything; it wasn’t your fault, sis” Evelin whispered soothingly into her ear. Sven had already told her, that her older sister was blaming herself for Evelin being kidnapped in the first place – as Judy was apparently the planned victim. But that was of course nonsense, at least in Evelin's eyes.

While Judy was still sobbing and firmly holding her sister, Nick slowly turned around and elevated the head of his bed with a remote control until he was sitting upright. He also switched on some dim ceiling lighting with the same remote control as he knew, that the rabbits could barely see anything in the nearly dark room. When Evelin looked in his direction, she gasped startled, and even Sven winced a bit at his sight. The once red-brownish fur of the fox was now shot through with countless dark spots. His left eye was completely shut, and the fur around it suffused with blood. The fingers on his right paw were splinted, and there was a full bandage around his chest.

“Frozen harvest!” Evelin whispered in consternation.

“Well, gladly I was just a bit chilly, not literally frozen” Nick tried his usual sly smile, but it looked more horrifying than relaxing.

“I dread to ask how you are, Nick. You must have horrible pains!” Sven said quietly.

“Nah! They gave me some morphine, it’s just like a light headache” he wryly smiled but was apparently downplaying it. “Hope you are feeling better, too?” Nick looked to Eve who was slowly breaking loose from Judy’s hug. “At least you’re looking marvelous again, Evelin.”

“Oh, shut your trap, you dumb fox…” Judy’s little sister blubbered out and hugged the fox carefully. Nick returned her hugging, trying to soothe the sobbing doe in his arms. His eyes met Judy’s who smiled sadly. She hadn’t shed a single tear the whole time while they were cuddling, but now her beautiful purple eyes were glazing over, and she was on the verge of starting to cry, too. Nick wasn’t sure if he would be able to bear this now…

“How are your little kits, are they okay?” the Fox said decidedly easygoing, trying to deflect everyone’s attention to something more enjoyable. It actually worked, and Judy started to smile in Sven’s direction, who were carrying the four baby bunnies in his arms. When the black rabbit made a few steps in their direction, Evelin broke loose from Nick, wiping away some tears with the back of her paw and also started to smile. The two male baby rabbits were all black with just a few light gray spots on their ears and muzzle. One of the female baby rabbits was black with gray spots all over her body, and the other one was mostly light gray with two black spots on her ears. They were sleeping peacefully, and all of them were tiny enough so they would easily fit together on a single paw of the Fox.

“They are really adorable, I’m so happy for you two!” Judy smiled moony, carefully petting the little kits with her finger.

Evelin reached out and carefully cupped one of the black bunnies. She turned to Nick and with a smile, she put the little kit down on an unwounded spot of Nick’s upper-body. “May I introduce… Foxy-Nicky, this is Bunny-Nicky… Bunny-Nicky, this is your godfather and life saver Foxy-Nicky”.

Nick was taken aback with three rabbits smiling brightly at him. When he recovered himself again, he looked questioning to Evelin, suggesting a small gesture with his paw: “May I…?” – When the young mother nodded with a light giggle, he was carefully reaching out with a single finger of his good paw. The little baby bunny had snuggled up into his warm fur and was still asleep. When Nick finally touched it, his paw was shaking slightly, but Bunny-Nicky was still sleeping peacefully and eventually, the Fox had the courage to stroke tenderly over the tiny body. In the meanwhile, Evelin had reached out for the second black baby rabbit and put it now also onto Nick’s chest beside his brother.

“And this is Pips…” she smiled brightly, then leaned forward and whispered to the little kit: “This is your godfather and life saver Piberius, little Pips…”

Nick started to snicker quietly, and it was the first time it didn’t sound forced at all. “Oh, come on. Have some mercy on this little sweetie pie. He deserves some better name than this. Piberius is already bad enough, but Pips?”

They all were dissolving into giggles, and Nick stroked carefully also the second bunny’s head with his finger. Pips started to yawn – looking absolutely adorable in doing so – and eventually nibbled on Nick’s fur while falling asleep again.

“Awww…!” Evelin panted in a rapture, putting her paws in front of her mouth.

Nick continued to carefully stroke the two little bunnies, and when he looked up, he saw Judy again with tears in her eyes. But this time she was really touched, smiling happily. And when Sven handed her the two little baby girls, her beaming face let everyone forget last night’s events for a short while.

* * *

It was nearly 21 o’clock and all seven rabbits – plus Nick – were in a small guest lounge at the end of the corridor. Judy, Evelin, and Sven were sitting on a beige-colored couch, surrounded by some dieffenbachia, balsamina, and philodendron. Judy was sitting near the window, facing Nick and holding the four little kits on her arm, dangling them softly. Evelin was sitting beside her, legs crossed on the seat and leaning against Sven’s shoulder while he was cuddling her. Nick sat – against his protests – in a wheelchair, wearing now the same hospital gown like Evelin. Despite having slept the whole day, everyone felt still somewhat exhausted but also enjoyed sitting together for now. They were actually hardly speaking for the whole time, just looking surreptitiously at each other now and then. Eventually, it was Sven’s ringing smartphone that made everyone cringe at once. Evelin managed to sneak a peek on the display before her husband could reject the call with an “I’m currently busy but will call you back soon!” auto-responder message. It was Valentina, one of Evelin’s litter sisters who tried to call them this time. With an anxious glance, she looked to Sven. None of them wanted to bring up the obvious subject – but if they wouldn’t recall their siblings rather soon, it could get even worse. There was no other choice…

“We… have still to discuss this whole… situation” Sven said slowly and breathed deeply.

“Mom?” Judy asked quietly, but Evelin shook her head.

“No. Not yet. But Ralph and Clara called already a few times. And now also Valentina”.

“And that’s just our phone. I guess you left yours deliberately at home?” Sven asked.

Judy slowly shook her head with a sigh and tapped on her pants pocket. “It’s turned off, though.”

“Well, Mom will already flip it when she gets to know that she missed the birth of Kathryn, Nicky, Annie and Pips” Evelin smiled blandly. “I would even consider keeping the attendant circumstances in private. But even when I manage to hide my ankles, I’m unsure how to conceal my injured wrists, too. And those will raise questions for sure”.

“Maybe some excessive bondage games?” Nick muttered with a lukewarm smile.

Sven glared at him but Evelin smiled meekly, knowing he just wanted to lighten the mood with his usual ease – and it actually implicated a shred of truth. The only one showing absolutely no reaction to Nick’s saying was Judy. She was sitting detached in her corner of the couch, still dandling the little kits, raising both Evelin’s and Nick’s suspicion. When the bunny cop realized, that their worried looks were lingering on her, she slowly lifted her head, talking back to them.

“What?! I seem to be the only one not knowing what was going on, so just continue to ignore me!”

Judy’s sad and angry look gave Evelin a chill and Nick gave a wince of pain at her harsh tone as if she had stabbed him with a knife right into his chest. The older sister had immediate regrets about her outburst when she noticed their reactions, started to sob and turned around handing the baby bunnies with shaking paws back to Evelin.

“I’m sorry...” Judy leaped from the couch and began to cry, running stumbling out of the lounge. Nick wanted to spring to his feet, but he actually was too weak and just managed to catch himself before falling to the ground. By the same token, Evelin wanted to get up from the couch, but Sven holds her back with his paw on her arm.

“I’ll take a look at her, whiskers…” he smiled reassuringly at her. “You two need a one-on-one anyway” The black rabbit gave his wife a soft kiss, got off the couch and followed Judy with quick steps.

* * *

Sven stood somewhat uneasy in front of a closed door. He could distinctly hear how Judy was weeping bitterly on the other side of it but still hesitated. Why of all rooms did she choose the ladies’ cloakroom? Putting his paw onto the doorknob, he breathed deeply and finally opened the door.

The crying doe was sitting on the floor, leaning against the wall. With a quick and nervous look, the male rabbit made sure that there were no other mammals in here, then walked over to his sister-in-law and kneeled beside her. When he finally put his arms around her, she leaned still crying on his shoulder. Sven tried to comfort her, carefully stroking her back and rocking slowly back and forth.

It took quite a while before Judy simmered down again, eventually only sniveling quietly. “I’m so sorry, Sven” she babbled dimly.

“Shhh…. there is no need to, you didn’t do anything wrong,” he said quietly, but Judy nearly started to cry again.

“I detected your reproachful looks, and you are so right!” she stammered after a while.

Sven sighed with a feeling of guilt – “Ju…”

“No, you don’t have to deny it! I’m so humiliated and just have to own up to it. If it hadn’t been for me, Evelin would have never been kidnapped!”

“Judy…” Sven tried to interrupt her flow, but the doe just shook her head desperately.

“I was nearly responsible for the death of your kits!”

“Judy…!” he was now speaking firmly, holding her at her shoulders.

“You nearly lost your wife, just because she was randomly in my apartment!”

“Judith!” Sven was now almost shouting, trying to get through to her.

But Judy went into hysterics instead, yelling desperately. “Evelin didn’t deserve this! Neither of you does! Nick is going to hate me for this as well as you and Evelin are! I will lose everyone I love, being all alone, I cannot endure anymo…”

Judy’s last yelled words were reverberating with the tiled walls. Sven’s face was ashen pale under his black fur and his paw trembling heavily. He only slapped her face very lightly, just enough to bring her back into reality – but her thunderstruck look and the sudden silence now was sending cold shivers up and down his spine.

“S-sorry… I just… I didn’t mean to…” he stammered terrified.

“Thank you” Judy whispered calmly and wiped some tears away with the back of her shaking paw.

“Are you… okay?” Sven asked still somewhat scared and worried.

“Not in the slightest,” she said with a crooked smile. “But I’m feeling better now.” She slowly got up from the floor, accepting Sven’s paw when he offered to help her.

“Judy…” he gently put his paw on her cheek, making her flinch involuntarily. When he realized his faux pas, he pulled his arm back with a start. “Sorry!”

“It’s okay, never mind” she put her arms around Sven’s neck and hugged him reassuring.

Sven sighed and patted her back. “Nothing that happened is your fault, Ju. And none of us could have prevented it. They are all alive, and we are back together, that’s the most important thing right now.” Then he looked around somewhat nervously. “Do you… uh… think… we could get maybe… eh… leave the ladies’ room?”

Judy nodded exhausted with a soft smile, gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and turned around to the wash basins to splatter her face with some cold water. After drying her fur again with a paper towel, she linked arms with Sven. “Let’s go back to Eve and Nick…”

* * *

When the two rabbits arrived back in the visitor's lounge, Nick was sitting on the couch with Evelin leaning against his shoulder, the four little kits still sleeping in her lap. Also attending was Chief Bogo, Detective Fangmeyer, and a big black bear wearing a suit instead of a uniform Judy didn’t recognize.

“Good evening, Chief. Fang.” Judy greeted them and walked up to the black bear. “Hello, my name is Officer Judy Wilde.” She didn’t even hesitate when using Nick’s last name, getting straight that she and her fox would hang together no matter what.

Sven sat down on the other side of the couch, and his wife changed her position to make some room for her sister and also cuddle with her worried looking husband. The black bear handed Judy his big paw. “Blackide, Internal Affairs Department.” His voice was little more than a hoarse whispering, trying to give it some sinister undertone.

However, the little rabbit's nose didn’t even twitch while returning his looks and shaking his paw. After sitting down between Nick and Evelin, she put her paw on top of her husbands, their fingers interlacing.

“We were recording the witness reports for the past events,” Fangmeyer explained in a calm voice. “Blackide is present, as one of his cases is also affected.”

“And to judge Officer Nicholas Wilde’s unauthorized actions in this case,” the bear added speaking low.

“Excuse me?” Judy’s ears shoot up, but Nick gently pressed her paw as a signal to bite back any comment.

“Routine process, Hopps” Bogo muttered. “Can we continue now?”

Nick and Evelin shared a quick look. While Sven ran after Judy to comfort her, the two had discussed how much they wanted to reveal of the past events to their partners. Nick wasn’t eager to burden Judy with a detailed description of what they had to suffer, but Evelin also didn’t want to lie neither to her nor to Sven. It was during that discussion that Bogo, Fangmeyer, and Blackide appeared. Until Sven and Judy came back, Evelin had reported how she was surprised and stunned in the apartment, only to wake up in the basement. So, continuing the witness report now would also imply, that Judy and Sven would get to know a very detailed narration of the following events. On the pro-side, they would only have to tell it once and not over and over again.

Now it was Judy’s time to press Nick’s paw reassuring; and also Sven was holding his wife somewhat tighter in his arm. Evelin gave him a soft kiss, then nodded to Nick with a small smile. She knew it would be hard for her to go through everything again now, but the mammals that were most significant to her were here with her. And it would be way worse for Nick, all the more because Judy was still more or less clueless. Nick sighed and took a deep breath, returned Judy’s soft pressing of his paw and turned back to his three colleagues. Bogo nodded and pressed the record button on the Dictaphone.

“As I already said,” Nick started to narrate slowly and with a quiet voice, “we left the apartment the moment we noticed, that it is a crime scene. While I called our emergency dispatcher, Sven called our family doctor as Judy had fainted due to some medical conditions regarding her pregnancy that aren’t relevant here.”

Nick’s description was detailed and businesslike, complemented by Evelin for those events he couldn’t remember due to being unconscious. They had to suspend the recording two times, though, as Judy nearly broke down sobbing and needed to be calmed by Nick and Evelin again. Fangmeyer used those interruptions to get them all something to drink. Blackide listened the whole time keeping a straight face, making some notes from time to time. Bogo didn’t say anything, but he watched his only fox officer with some sympathies.

Several hours later, the Chief put the dictaphone back into his pocket.  While Blackide was still making some notes on a notepad, the Buffalo asked him to have a short one-to-one outside the room, and both mammals left the lounge. Nick was holding his trembling and quietly sobbing rabbit in his arms, giving her a soft kiss between the ears.

“It’s okay, carrots. I’m here with you now and will not leave you ever again. No need to be afraid anymore, my sweet little cottontail.” He whispered into her ear while crawling with his paw over her cheek. Judy snuggled with her nose into his fur, leaning her ears on top of his chest. His rather calm and regular heartbeat was soothing to her.

“I was obligated by every single colleague of precinct one to assure you of any help or anything else you could need. Just give Clawhauser or me a call, and we will be there for you.” Fangmeyer said with a little smile. “And needless to say, the same applies to you, Mr. and Mrs. Hopps-Brooks.” The tiger said, now speaking to the other two rabbits. Sven nodded and continued to crawl his wife, holding her tight in his arms.

“Could you already figure out who is behind all that?” Judy’s voice sounded weary. “Who is interrogating this Ram and Ferret? If you need any help with it, I…”

“No way, Judy,” Nick interrupted her at once. “I won’t allow you to go even near those … those…” he couldn’t find a fitting word before Fangmeyer interrupted him.

“No need to worry about that,” the tiger said with suppressed anger, his muzzle was twitching lightly. He turned his head to the entrance, but Bogo and Blackide were still talking together on the outside. “This information is confidential, so don’t ask any further questions about it. But Ferris was killed by a sniper while we were conveying him to federal prison. Two of my squad members are severely wounded but will probably survive.”

“You must be joking!” Judy gasped, her muzzle twitching furiously. “But aren’t the routes of those transports confidential?”

Fangmeyer nodded, then sighed while rubbing his nose bridge. “Also, Ramstad was killed with some sort of contact poison while being on his way into custody.”

“But…” Judy was bewildered. “But how!?”

“I guess, that explains the presence of Blackide. Only another ZPD officer would have access to the transportation route or get access to a prisoner.” Nick said with his head bowed. “Presumably someone high-ranking.”

Fangmeyer didn’t respond but nodded as confirmation. “My team has secured this whole hospital wing right now, only audited personnel is currently allowed here and visitors only with authorization by Chief Bogo or me. We are also arranging witness protection for all of you after your discharge. Internal Affairs are currently auditing colleagues from another precinct for it.”

“Wait, what does that mean?” Sven spoke up for the first time since he and Judy returned.

“That means,” Chief Bogo said with some drained facial expression while entering the room again, now without the black bear, “that we will lodge you all at a classified location, guarded 24-7 until we know for sure what is going on here and can be certain you are out of danger.”

“But I have to work!” Sven protested.

“That’s impossible, both our families want to see our little kits and …” Evelin chimed in.

“As long as Nick has to stay in the hospital I’m going nowhere! Also, I don’t need any overseer, I’m perfectly capable of …” Judy exclaimed at the same time – Nick was the only one who didn’t really react to that news, appearing abstractedly.

“Cut it out!” Bogo snapped at them after everyone started to talk at the same time. He had not slept for two nights, and after losing two suspects and having to deal with internal affairs, he wasn’t capable of any more arguments for now. “Someone is after you and your family, Hopps, and apparently, they do stop for nothing! I will try to arrange a visit with your close family in a few days, but no further contact during your witness protection! And Wilde is perfectly safe here, some officers will guard his room 24/7! We try to resolve that case as fast as possible, but …”

“And instead of us, they could just come after one of our few hundred siblings!” Evelin cut him off, causing Bogo nearly to fume.

“She is right, Chief.” Judy chimed in. “You cannot protect our whole family, and they would be all in danger, just to decoy us out of coverage. As Evelin’s kidnapping just proved! And you are damn right with Nick being guarded because _I_ will protect my husband and partner as long as he has to stay here!

“Hopps, you cannot…” Bogo started impatiently but was interrupted, this time by Sven.

“I would never risk that someone harms our families instead of us!”

“Neither of us would!” Evelin added.

Bogo was on the verge of fulminating when Fangmeyer intervened and lifted his paws. “We should stop arguing about that now. We are all exhausted and need some sleep. Chief Bogo and I will discuss our options tomorrow. We understand that this whole situation is causing some vexations, but you should all be happy to have survived the attempted assassination – for now!”

“I also talked with Blackide, there will be no further investigation against Officer Wilde regarding his actions in this case.” Bogo was a lot calmer now, being exhausted and he finally wanted to get out of this uniform he was wearing now for days to take a hot shower. “He also told me, that he ordered two foreign officers from other precincts who will not leave your side from now on: Officer Grizzmund from precinct 5 and maybe you remember Officer Fanghanel from precinct 9.”

Judy sighed with a slight smile, “Eliot Fanghanel is nobody who is quickly forgotten, but we are also friends with him and his wife since our last common case with those kidnapped mammals. But I don’t think we have met Officer Grizzmund, yet. Or do you know him, Ni…” Judy turned to Nick, but shrieked out of a sudden, giving a jerk to all others as her fox had distorted eyes, his mouth slightly opened and leaned unconsciously on the couch.

* * *

It was the next morning when Nick woke up and slowly opened his eyes again, laying in his hospital bed. For a moment he thought that he had double vision, as he was looking into four gorgeous purple eyes and two soft smiling muzzles were looking at him.

“Hey, carrots…” he whispered and blinked a few times, his vision getting better. One of the two faces leaned forward and gave him a kiss and Nick purred involuntary, closing his eyes.

Evelin giggled silently, “I didn’t know that a fox can purr like a feline!” Even Sven was chuckling in the background. When Nick opened his eyes again, it was only Judy he could see and smell, and he took a deep breath.

“Hey, my snuggly bunny…” he whispered in her ear, which made her smile.

“You really scared us earlier.” Judy stroked his cheek carefully. “The doctor said it was just a syncopal attack due to exhaustion. And that you should stay in that bed for this week!”

Nick sighed but also noticed now something laying on his chest. When he lifted his head, he saw four little bunnies snuggling into his fur and sleeping peacefully. “I hope those are still Evelin’s and I wasn’t unconscious that long!” he winked, and Judy laughed lightly.

“Don’t worry,” she took his healthy paw and put it on her own belly. “The doctor said, you have to wait six or seven weeks more for ours to be actually born. Even if I fear, I will just go bust until then.” She sighed with a wink. “I already look as fat as aunt Audrey and not even half the time has passed.”

“You look fantastic, Judy,” Nick said with a dreamy smile that made his wife all emotional. “And it was the memories of you that made me persevere all that suffering. I knew that you were safe, and as long as I could face it, Evelin would be safe, too, giving you enough time to find us. I’m sorry that you had to endure the suspense. But I had to do it.”

“I know, my dumb fox. But remember, that you are not alone anymore and that you have a loving family that needs you, too.” She softly kissed his paw and wiped some tears away. “We are a second to none team, but only together. Don’t forget that, okay?”

Nick nodded slowly and smiled. “I promise, Carrots.” Another rabbit was sniveling silently, and a short moment later Evelin was hugging him from the other side of the bed, scrubbing with her nose over his cheek.

“Whatever they would have done to me couldn’t have been worse than witnessing what they did to you. I don’t know how I should ever pay that debt.”

“Oh, come on, stop it, Evelin.” Nick turned his head around, making Evelin bopping against his snout accidentally which makes her giggle again – and the red fox blushing somewhat. She gave him a quick kiss on his nose and winked.

“You earned that, my hero in red fur.” She yawned with a smile. “And also many many thanks from Mom, Dad, and probably a few hundred other siblings. They don’t know how to thank you, and everyone hopes you are getting well again quickly.”

“So, I guess you had talked to them by now,” Nick said with a slightly worried look. “How much do they know?”

“Only the PG-13 version of it. That I got kidnapped and that you were injured during your attempt of rescuing me. And of course, that I owe you my life and that of our little kits.” She smiled thankfully with a warm smile.

“There was no need to mention that,” Nick said somewhat awkward. “I did just what everyone else would have done in that situation, that was nothing special.”

“Since when are you that humble?” Judy said, and all rabbits snickered.

“It was really remarkable what you did, Nick,” Evelin said eventually. “And I want everyone to know that because I never was as proud of being able to call someone my brother as I am with you.” She smiled, trying to get not as emotional as Judy normally got. Sven put his arms around her from behind and hold her tight.

“You two should have some rest,” Judy said smiling to Sven and her little sister. “We will have an eye for your little ones in the meanwhile. Not that there is much to worry about as they are sleeping the whole time.” The gray doe winked.

Evelin turned her head to Sven who nodded smiling. “I think a few hours of sleep will do us good. We will come over for lunch again, though.” He took his wife’s paw and gave her a soft kiss on her cheek.

After Judy’s sister and her husband left the room, Nick turned to his wife again. The rabbit was holding his paw, nuzzling it slowly. He could still see how much his witness report of the events had upset and wrecked her, but now trying to be that tough ZPD rabbit again – with modest success.

“So,” he said after a while, determined to distract the gray doe somewhat. “As it seems, we are already babysitting our godchildren. Do you think that ours will be as good and sleepy, too? Being parents will be a cakewalk in that case!” he winked at Judy and made her snicker.

“Oh, they are only that sleepy for the first one to two weeks, my dear. But after that, they are full of go. Be glad that we only have two for now, any more and I would fear for your sanity.”

Nick raised his eyebrows, “For now? Someone has big plans, huh?”

“Don’t worry, more than maybe a dozen would be too much for our apartment, we have to look for something bigger first.”

“Eh…” Nick gulped, and Judy grinned at him roguishly. He then grabbed with his paw her head and draw her near to his face, giving her a kiss. “For you, I would even handle a whole burrow with a few hundred rabbits, as long as it is that what you really want.”

“I already have everything I really want, dumb fox. And those two…” she nodded to her belly, “will just make things perfect.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Haemapure is a blood substitute that can be used on a broad range of species. While not as good as whole blood, it is a viable option when the compatible blood of the correct species isn’t available. It is mentioned by [eng050599](http://archiveofourown.org/users/eng050599/pseuds/eng050599) in his story “[Lost causes and broken dreams](http://archiveofourown.org/works/7939489/chapters/18148795)” based on a real product – although currently not available on the market. He also helped me with the medical aspects in this chapter, so big thanks to him!
> 
> I also switched my editor with this chapter, as my previous one has not enough time anymore. You now have to thank [WildeForHopps](http://archiveofourown.org/users/WildeForHopps) for hunting down all those nasty little grammar and spelling errors I left behind. Needless to say, I just wanted to test her and added those all on purpose…
> 
> The next chapter will hopefully not take as long as this one. But I will also post and update some other little stories in the meantime, with a lot more fluff and comedy as we saw here lately. So keep an eye on my accounts if you are interested in reading those, too.
> 
> The audio drama will also continue in a few weeks, starting with chapter 3x01. There will be some surprise regarding the voice acting, so keep an eye on Sean’s YouTube-Channel. ;-)


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